Beautiful Mistake
by TextMessage
Summary: Rouge has the perfect like that any girl could hope or wish for. The perfect job, a large mansion to live in, close friends, and a loving boyfriend that adores her. However, what if she starts to think that her relationship is not the one she wants to be in. What if she realizes it was... a mistake? Rated T for now. Summary and rating may change in the future.
1. Chapter 1: Intro

**Beautiful Mistake**

**Chapter 1: Intro  
**

* * *

_I have the perfect life that any girl could ever ask or wish for. A__ nice sized mansion to live in,_ well paying job, a partner who's got my back no matter in what situation, good, close friends, I even have a hot body to rock and face to match that makes most women jealous, and... an awesome boyfriend, but-  


_Something feels off... I can't really explain it. It's something I've never shared with anyone hoping the feeling would go away over time. However, that didn't seem to work out. You see, it has to do with my said 'boyfriend'. He's the best in the world, more than I could ever hope for. Everyone, even our friends said we were a match made in heaven. The complete opposites to one another. He's the ying to my yang basically... but-  
_

_~Have you ever felt that being with the person that you're with...  
_

_Was a mistake?  
_

_I think... am I, and that what scares me.~_

**XoXooXOXooXoX**

**[.Monday Morning.]**

_*Ring* Ring* Ring*_

A soft groan releases from the small mouth of a female still laying in her bed. An eyelid slowly opens to reveal a beautiful aquamarine color. In the comfortable queen sized bed with lavish covers and imported pillows, is none other than Rouge the Bat. Her white, curled hair is tucked neatly under a silk nightcap, and on her body, graces a dark, blue night gown with thin straps.

"Morning already?" She said tiredly.

Reading the clock, it's close to 7:00.

'Almost time for work. Damn...'

She yawns.

"Five more minutes..." Rouge drops her head back down on the pillow after hitting the snooze button to go off in another couple of minutes.

**Ten minutes later...**

A door opens to her bedroom, and a brown-haired female maid dressed in a black button up shirt, matching skirt, and white apron peeks her head inside.

"Miss Rouge?"

Stepping inside, the maid places her hands on her hips and frowns.

"Sleeping in again? You're going to be late again..." She shakes her head before storming up to the bed to grab onto the bed sheets.

"Rouge, it's time to get up.." The maid says in chipper voice.

Rouge turns over in her bed and places a pillow atop her head. "Five more minutes.. Go away."

The maid pouts and shakes her head. "But Miss-"

"I said go away!"

The brown-haired maid shakes her head. "Fine, have it your way..."

With one quick pull, the maid snatches the sheets from the bed thus causing Rouge to crash to the floor with a hard thud. She bumps her head on the edge of the bed as her butt lands hard on the carpeted floor. The maid stands back in shock as her hand covers her mouth trying to hide her huge smile.

"AAAH! CLAUDIA! WHAT THE HELL?" Rouge rubs the top of her head as a hand reaches out for her. Looking up to the hand, her blue-ish eyes land on a brown hedgehog with bright, purple eyes, and tan skin.

"Haha, sorry... I gave you a warning, didn't I?"

Rouge scrunches up her nose and takes the hand to pull herself up to her feet. Her head and her bottom aches as she stretches her body out.

"Yeah, not a very good one!"

Claudia giggles. "But it was the only way to get you up before you're late for work at G.U.N.!" She turns Rouge around and starts to push her towards the bathroom. "And your best friend is waiting for you outside!"

"Huh, you mean-" Rouge begins to say, but cannot finish.

"No, no! No, time for talking! Now, off to the bathroom you go!"

"Claudia! Wait-"

"You don't have time to wait! I already ran the bath for you, so hurry up and get in!" Claudia slams the door as soon as she shoves Rouge inside.

Rouge is trapped in the bathroom as she hears a lock click from the outside.

"Now, tell me why I decided to have a lock placed on the **outside** of this bathroom door!"

Claudia laughs from the outside. "Who knows, but what my luck!"

The ivory bat only rolls her eyes and yawns once more before turning towards the bath filled with warm water and sweet smelling body wash. She strips herself of her night gown and eases into the bath water feeling the warm temperature makes her hiss. In the bath, she washes and bathes herself until she feels that she's clean enough and hops out.

She grabs a towel off of the towel rack and wraps it around her body and walks to the bathroom door to knock.

"Claudia!"

**In a few minutes, she gets a response...  
**

"Yes?"

"I'm done, so open the door and let me out now."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, I've just told you."

"Positively sure?"

Rouge rolls her eyes and rest her head on the door. "Claudia... open this damn door!"

"Alrighty then!" In one second, the door is swung open to reveal her maid holding a feather duster in one hand and a broom in the other.

"I've already cleaned your room and laid out your outfit for the day, so hurry up. She's still waiting for you outside!"

Rouge nods tiredly as she walks into her room. Her bed is already maid up thanks to Claudia and on it lays an aqua top, a cream colored jacket that stops just above her chest, tight pants the same shade of color as her jacket, and brown boots that go up to her ankles. In a hurry, she slips into her selected clothes, and they fit all her curves perfectly.

In the mirror, she applies a thin, pink gloss on her lips, a bit of blue eye shadow on her eyes, and curls her hair so that it flows gently around her shoulders. Standing back a bit, she smiles at her own reflection.

'Good looking as always.' Rouge boasts as she takes a look at the clock.

**~7:39 a.m.~**

'Damn, I'm gonna be late again! No doubt** he'll**, AKA Shadow, be on my ass when I get there...'

**Rouge quickly takes one more look into the mirror and grabs her cell phone from her dresser making sure it's off, because she hates receiving early phone calls in the morning, before running down the stairs, Claudia is standing next to the stairwell holding a black, designer bag and a cereal bar...**

"Here you are!"

Rouge grabs them both with a frown plastered on her face. "Mmhp! What? No breakfast?"

"Well, if you had gotten up a bit sooner, you would have." Claudia says in a sing songy voice before shooing her out the door. "Now, go, go! You have work today!"

"Aah! I'm going!" Rouge stumbles outside to see a pink hedgehog standing by her car. Looking a bit closer, she recognizes her as one of her close friends, Amy Rose. **  
**

'Never thought I would call her my best friend, but I do. And I wouldn't change that for the world. She works with me at the G.U.N building. Strange, isn't it? Not really to me. She only works as a secretary under the Secretary of Defense in the main building dealing with a ton of important phone calls, case briefings, and other menial tasks. Occasionally, though, she gets to go on missions with me and a few others when we need some extra 'women power'. Thinking about it now, it's a wonder a girl like her would want to work in a career field like that! Maybe to get closer to a certain someone... hehe...'

Rouge thought as a smile forms on her face as she walks up to her. "Hey, Amy."

The pink hedgehog turns around and smiles. "Morning, Rouge! Going to be late again like always?" She laughs. Before Rouge responds to her friend's teasing, she takes a look at her outfit.

A frilly, white top with long thing sleeves to her wrist, a tight black skirt that smooths out to reveal most of her curves and stops just above her knees, and black ankle boots with three white buttons on each side. Her hair is up in a messy bun, light make-up is applied, and thin black glasses sit upon her face.

'Since when did she start wearing glasses?'

"Yeah, and you too, four eyes! Why do you even wait for me to drive to work? You have a car too." Rouge points to a two-story pink house that sits one block from her own.

Amy blushes slightly and rolls her eyes. "To save gas money, girl! Hell, I don't have money to waste like you do..." She pouts.

"So you'd rather use my gas instead of your own?" Rouge asks as she walks to unlock her purple Porsche sitting in the driveway.

"Exactly!" Amy chirps proudly as she opens the car door to hop inside.

Rouge only playfully rolls her eyes. "Awe, would a good friend I burn up all my gas money instead of my own!"

"Yes, would a good friend you have indeed!" Amy laughs along with the white bat as she starts the car.

"Bye, Claudia!" The two girls wave back to the house seeing Rouge's maid standing there.

"Goodbye.. have a good day at work!" Claudia waves back, but hears a ringing from the inside of the house.

**At the front of Rouge's house...**

"OH, WAIT! ROUGE-" Claudia yells out of the door, but it's too late. The purple Porsche takes off down the street before she has a chance to stop it. "Oh, phooey!"

"Hello?" A male voice from the house phone calls to her. "Claudia, are you still there?"

"Yeah, sorry, Knuckles... but she left with Amy just a few seconds ago.."

"I see...She's left for work, right?" Knuckles asks on the other end of the phone sounding a bit tired at the moment.

"Yes? I suppose you can her cellphone... tho I doubt she'll answer it this early in the morning.. OH! Call her male partner, Shadow! I'm sure you'll be able to get your message to her through him, sir."

"I suppose so... Thanks..." The phone hangs up.

Claudia frowns and shakes her head before returning back into the mansion.

'Why does he sound so tired? Must be work related...'

**In Rouge's car halfway to work...  
**

Rouge turns on the radio to listen to some music.

_Hey, I just met you, _

_and this is crazy,_

_but here's my number,_

_so call me, maybe?_

_It's hard to look right,_

_at you baby,_

_but here's my number, _

_so call me, maybe?_

In an instance, the pink hedgehog begins singing along with the song. Bobbing her head and snapping her fingers along to the beat. Rouge watches her annoyingly before changing to another station.

"Hey, I just met you, and this is crazy! I wanna meet your mother, and have your babies!" Rouge makes up her own lyrics making her own self and Amy laugh.

"Hey! I like that song!" Amy protests.

"What? You're like almost 20 now, and you still listen to songs like that?" Rouge smirks. Rouge turns to a song of her liking of her own tastes.

Amy frowns and folds her arms. "The singer of the song, Carly Rae Jepsen is 26! Six years older than me!"

Rouge laughs. "Oh, really now? I thought I heard this song before.. she's that old and still dresses like a teenager. It's a nice song, but come on, Amy. I thought you wanted to act and look older for you-know-who? I wonder what he would think if he saw you dancing and singing childishly like that..."

Out of the corner of her eye, the bat sees a small blush forming on the young girl's cheeks. "Ha, I knew it!"

"Oh, shut up!"

"Well, anyway, I'm changing the song." Rouge finds another song playing on the radio station.

**As the girls quiet down, Amy stares out into the fast moving space around them...**

"Hey, Rouge?"

"Mmm?"

"Do you know when the guys are coming back?"

'Guys meaning Sonic, Knuckles, and the new recruits they took with them on a mission not to long ago. Assigned by G.U.N. Yeah, they work for G.U.N. too now.'

Rouge only shrugs. "Not a clue.. I thought you would know about that before I do."

Amy sighs. "I haven't been paying attention in the meetings we've been having... hehe..."

"Ha! Too busy thinking about Sonic coming back."

"... y-yeah..." Amy admits as she continues to look away.

'It's been like two months since they've left, and they would be returning sometime this week. Doesn't seem like it's been that long. Maybe to Amy, but not me.'

"Girl, when are you going to walk up to him and admit you want to go out on a date with him! Is that why you dressed like that today? Hoping he would be coming back today, so he can see you dressed maturely like that?"

"Well.. yeah, I remember in the meeting that they would be returning either today or tomorrow..." Amy shakes her head in protest. "Rouge, it's not that easy!"

"Sure... Tell you what, I'll be there with each step of the way holding your hand for you!"

"I hate you so much right now..."

"And I love you just as much, best friend." Rouge said making Amy laugh to herself.

"How are you and Knuckles?"

Rouge finds herself driving into the largely populated city of Mobius.

"Oh, good, I guess."

Amy frowns and looks her way. "You guess? Have you talked to him lately?"

"Not since he left two months ago.." Rouge tells her.

"What? Why?"

"Amy, you know that there cannot be any communication at all with other agents when on missions, but only with the chief overseeing the mission."

Amy cannot find the words to argue with her friend. "Don't you miss him?"

"Like you miss Sonic? Ha, yeah.. but not as much." Rouge says convincingly, but feels slightly strange about saying it.

Amy narrows her eyes. "Ha, ha, ha... very funny..."

In a matter of a few more minutes, the girls make it to their place of work.

**Inside the G.U.N. building...**

Rouge and Amy walk off their separate ways. Looking down at her phone which she turned on upon entering the building, she sees she has 3 missed calls.

**'Knuckles'**

"Damn." She scolds herself. "And it's past 8:00! I'll have to give him a call later..."

Rouge quickens her pace to a nearby elevator and hops on. A few minutes, she's let off at the tenth floor where she flies down the hallway to the meeting room she was supposed to be in almost ten minutes ago. On the way, she bumps into someone landing herself on the floor.

"OW! HEY! WATCH WHERE YOU'RE-" She starts to scream, but stops seeing who it is.

Holding out a hand to help her up is none other than Shadow the hedgehog. He's dressed in a dark black muscle shirt, black jeans, and his famous red, black, and white shoes.

"Oh, thanks, Shad."

His nose twitches as he helps her up. "Don't call me that."

"Alright, Shad." Rouge says again knowing how to push his buttons.

Shadow closes his eyes and folds his arms. "You're pushing it."

"But not past the point to where you wanna hurt me, right, Shad?"

"Don't push your luck."

Rouge only laughs. "So what are you doing out in the hall? Isn't there a meeting going on in the briefing room?"

"Coming to get you. I knew you were going to be late again."

Rouge pouts. "I am NOT always late! I had a late morning is all."

"Well, you've had eight late mornings this past month! I can't keep covering for you, you know that?" Shadow warns her.

"Yeah, yeah..." She looks away from him and down back to her phone to see those three missed calls pop back up again.

'I should really call him back.'

"Are you okay?" He asks with a bit of concern, but showing almost no emotion. He has noticed the frown upon her face when she looked towards her phone.

Rouge looks up and eyes him strangely. "Yeah, why?"

"Well, you've been standing on my foot for the past minute and a half and haven't even made the slightest bit of decency to move it." Shadow tells her making her look to the floor. Indeed, her foot is atop of his running shoes.

"Oh, sorry!" She quickly moves off of him and steps back.

Shadow scoffs. "Yeah.. by the way. Knuckles called me not too long ago, saying that he, Sonic, and the rest of them are returning later today. Probably after today's work."

"Oh..." Is all Rouge could say about it. "Okay, thanks"

Shadow looks at her with a bit of surprise half expecting her to be overcome with joy as a girlfriend should. "Oh? That's it? I thought he was your boyfriend?"

"He is!" She says in defense with her hands on her hips. "And a perfect one at that! Why do you say that?"

He shrugs. "I don't know. I thought you would be more happy to hear about his return. You haven't had any contact with him in two months, so I just thought. But it's really none of my business."

"Mmph!" Rouge thinks to herself as Shadow begins to walk off down the hall.

'I should be more happier to know that Knuckles it coming back. I haven't spoken, seen, or even felt his touch in two months! Any girl would be overcome with joy with having their boyfriend back after so long! But I'm just... I don't know...'

"Rouge, come on! Before you're even more late than you already are!" Shadow yells from down the hall calling to her.

"COMING!" Rouge yells as she takes off down the hall after him.

'What's wrong with me?'

* * *

**End~**

**__****Song: Call Me Maybe - Carly Rae Jepsen**

**Finally done with the Intro... Haha, I got this idea from a song I was listening to the other day, and finally decided to write it after you guys told me what couple I should do. RougeXKnuckles, of course. Other couples will be included as well.  
**

**I really don't know how far I'll take this or how I did in this first chapter, but only reviews and feedback will tell. Also, I'm not used to writing a story with this pairing (it's my first time), so bear with me, if the first chapter is not so great, xD  
**

**I may revise this chapter later on too.  
**

**Anyway...  
**

**READ/REVIEW  
**

**Peace!~  
**


	2. Chapter 2: Just a Feeling

**Beautiful Mistake**

**Chapter 2: Just a Feeling**

* * *

**[.Later In The Workday; Close To It's End.]****  
**

**A pink hedgehog waited patiently by the door of a meeting room on the third floor of the G.U.N. building. It's ten minutes past the time for Rouge and the others to check off from work, but no one has left the meeting room left. Amy sighed boredly as she blows a strand of her hair out of her face that slightly blocked her vision.  
**

**She took a look at her cell phone and let out a loud groan...**

_'Fifteen minutes! Seriously, how much longer?'  
_

"When are they coming out? Rouge is my ride home, and-"

Suddenly, the two large, black door of the meeting room burst open and a flood of agents began rushing out. Startled, she stood back letting them all past by her by. As she looked into the crowd for Rouge, she noticed a few of them that stared back at her with obvious looks of interest.

A brown hedgehog with dark yellow eyes and wearing all white stopped in front of her. "Oh, hey, Miss Rose! Almost didn't see you standing there."

"Oh, that's okay! I'm just waiting here for my ride home." Amy said to him as her cheeks flushed a soft pink.

"Really? How about I-"

His friends that stood behind him called to him. "Hey, come on! We were going to the bar after work remember?"

"Yeah, I'm coming! Damn.." He shook his head nervously and turned to Amy once again. "Sorry about that."

Amy laughs. "It's alright."

"Now, what was I about to say... oh, yeah! I could drive you home, if you want! It wouldn't be too much trouble for me, you know?"

"Uuumm... that's fine. I'm actually waiting for Rouge."

He nodded in understanding and then turned back to his friends. "Oh, okay. Well, I'll see you later! By the way, you're looking quite beautiful today!" He gave her a wink before he dashed off to go catch up with his friends as a few more agents were still exiting the meeting room.

Amy blushes shyly and stared down at the floor as they walked on by her. "I didn't dress up like this for them.. I did it for-"

"Mmph!"

She turned her head to the side to see Shadow as he stood beside her with his arms folded tightly over his chest.

"S-Shadow? What are you doing-"

"Are you meaning to tell me you dressed up like that for the blue hedgehog's return today?" He suddenly asked her. The accusation made the pink hedgehog gasp questioningly.

_'What's up with him all of sudden? He's never talked to me for more than a second unless necessary! Why is he asking me that of all questions?'_

Amy pouted and placed her hands on her hip. "What's it to you?"

He shrugged and kept his eyes forward without even looking her way. "I was just asking a simple question."

"That wasn't simple at all!"

"For the simple minded, no."

She growled lowly. "Are you calling me simple minded?"

"Yes and no." He answered plainly.

"You got some nerve-"

Shadow turned his face towards her. This action stopped in her mid-speech as his piercing red eyes black shoot back at her green emeralds.

"I wasn't trying to sound rude although sometimes it can't be helped. I was only trying to say is that you shouldn't have to get all dressed up like that to impress him. He should like you for who you are, not for what you look like."

"Wha..?"

The black and red hedgehog then turned to leave and waved back to her. "But still that looks suits you."

"What? Whaaaa..?"

As he walked away, Amy stared after him in thought and slight confusion.

_'Did he actually say that to me?__ There's no way, but... I heard him with my own ears! Why would he say this to me now after I've been working so long at G.U.N. Does he like-'  
_

She shook her head of the thoughts. "Argh! Where's is Rouge already?"

"Right here." Rouge walked slowly out of the meeting room. She looked a bit tired and bored out of her mind as her feet dragged across the slick floor. "When I get home, I'm going straight to bed!"

"What took you guys so long today?" Amy asked quickly and kept the incident with Shadow to herself for the moment.

Rouge shrugged her shoulders. "Just the regular BS that we could have gone without hearing, but we had to sit through it anyway!"

"Again? Seriously, when are they going to give you guys real work?"

The bat sighs sadly. "Who knows? There hasn't been any cases or missions that need to be done."

"Sounds extremely boring!"

"Yeah, now you know why I hate coming to work in the morning!"

"Are you sure that's the _only_ reason?" Amy's eyes looked back to the meeting room.

Rouge nodded and looked at her with a frown. "Yes, I'm sure!"

"Sure you don't like coming to work, because you can't flirt around with Knuckles anymore! Well, that all changes after today!" Amy giggled, but saw the glare in the white bat's eyes and the stained red color on her face.

"Whatever..."

"Are you the last one to leave?"

"Uuummm... yeah, sure!" Rouge quickly told her. "Hey, speaking of Knuckles... did the guys come back from their mission, yet?"

_'I nearly forgot about what Shadow told me... and about them returning home today...'_

Amy shook her head. "Nope.. maybe they'll be here by the time we walk outside to the parking lot!"

"Oh, please! You just want that free ride home!" Rouge teases as she grabbed the girl's arm and lead them down the hall to the elevator. The elevator opened after a few seconds of pushing the button and the girls hopped on. Rouge reached forward and pressed the button to go to the first floor.

As the elevator started to close, a female voice yelled from down the hall.

"I thought you said that you were the last one leaving?"

"I lied."

"HEY, PLEASE HOLD THE ELEVATOR!" The same female voiced called out to them again and this time a bit louder.

The two girls looked to see a certain female that ran straight for their elevator as she waved her hand frantically in the air.

"Oh no..."

"What wrong?"

Rouge groaned. "It's Haily.." She said referring to the new agent they had enlisted a few months ago. A light brown fox with, long brown hair to her waist, sky blue eyes, and a womanly shape.

"Oh.. Well, we have to hold the elevator for her." Amy said as she reached to stop the elevator door from closing.

"Oh no, we don't!" Rouge objected to the idea and smacked her hand away.

The pink hedgehog shrieked and glared at her. "And why not?"

"You know why!" She recalled on the event of Haily hitting on and throwing herself on Knuckles on her first time on the job as a agent of G.U.N. That little incident didn't end to well as both girls remembered all too well what happened.

Amy rolled her eyes. "Come on, Rouge. It was an accident! She didn't know!"

Rouge shook her head. "She didn't know my ass!"

"PLEASE! I'M ALMOST THERE!"

"Well, she's almost here, so why don't keep it open for her?" Her friend tried to reason with her again despite of her stubbornness.

Rouge completely ignored her and repeatedly pressed the 1 button on the elevator. "Close! Close! Close! Close! Close! Close! Close-"

"Rouge!"

"What?"

"That's not helping! Stop the door-" Just as Amy yelled at her, Haily got closer and closer to reaching the elevator until the door shut on her.

"YES!" Rouge jumped up in excitement and does herself a little dance as they were taken to the first floor.

Amy folded her arms and sighed. "You are _so_ evil..."

"You know it!" Rouge bumped her hip against Amy's making her almost fall to the floor and laugh. In a matter of a seconds, the door opened, and the girls walked out and headed straight for the exit of the building.

**[.Outside G.U.N. Building.]**

Rouge and Amy stopped and looked around to see a huge airplane flying overhead. The plane seemed like it was headed for the Air Base that's located in the back behind the building.

"Was that them?"

"Most likely." Rouge answered and then smiled as her phone started to vibrate in her purse. A new text message blinked on her phone.

**Knuckles - Hey, babe! We're back...  
**

**Rouge - Yay! Knuckie, I missed u  
**

**Knuckles - (Oh, now she has her fone on? lmao...) But yea, I kno. I missed u 2. Me nd Sonic saw u girls standing in front of the place wen we flew in jus now  
**

**Rouge - Da same with me nd her**

**Knuckles - Yea, so can u girls wait for us until we get there?  
**

**Rouge - Sure, buh hurry ur red ass up already! D;  
**

**Knuckles - (-.-')  
**

Rouge only laughed and put her phone away.

_'Gotta at least sound happy about his return... that's what a girlfriend is supposed to feel right? Happy... I am happy... aren't I?'_

She pushed those thoughts out of her mind and noticed that Amy was staring down at her own cell phone. She slowly walked up behind her to peek. Amy quickly shut her phone and blushed madly.

"What are you doing, nosy ass?"

"Just having a peek at who you're texting, so tell me!"

Amy continued to blush as she turned her back to her. "None of your business!"

"Oh, really, huh?" Rouge pulled out her cell again and texted a number in her phone.

**Rouge - Wassup, blue boy?**

**Sonic - Blue boy? Startin wit nicknames now? Alrite, let me think of 1... I kno! Jewel theif!  
**

**Rouge - Haha, always go wit da obvious... (-.-')  
**

**Sonic - Cud say da same thing about u :P  
**

**Rouge - Moving on... R u texting some1 else rite now?  
**

**Sonic- y?  
**

**Rouge - Jus a question  
**

**Sonic - Mmm... Pinky ring any bells for ya?  
**

Rouge shut her phone and grinned mischievously. "Haha, you were texting Sonic, weren't you?"

"W-what? How do you know!" Amy finally turned around.

The bat held up her phone and smiled. "From the man himself, sweetie."

"S-shut up!" The pink hedgehog blushed even harder. "You nosy bat! Why don't you text Knuckles instead?"

"I did, he told us to wait here until they get here. I'd thought Sonic would have told you the same thing.. unless you two were talking about something _else_..."

Amy shook her head nervously. "Be quiet! You don't know anything, so keep your mouth shut!"

"Sweetie, I know _everything_, so there's no use in hiding it from your best friend!"

"Rouge, that's impossible even for you."

Rouge titled her head in thought. "That may be so, but you can't deny that I know what you and him are up too!"

"Oh, yeah? W-well what about you and Knuckles?" Amy asked suddenly.

"What about us?"

"We're fine."

"Just fine?" Amy questioned suspiciously.

Rouge nodded. "Yeah, why?"

"Well, this morning, you were acting a bit strange when we were talking about him."

The bat asked curiously. "How so?"

"Well it was when you said you haven't spoken to Knuckles at all in the two months that he was gone. You didn't seem at all fazed by it..."

"Mmm..." Rouge thought for minute.

_'I wasn't fazed by it? You mean it didn't seem to matter to me... when it should have? I said I missed him in that text a few minutes ago, but... did I really mean it? _

_Yes! Of course I did! _

_Yeah...'_

By now, Amy saw the worried look on Rouge's face and panics. "B-but I didn't mean anything by it! I'm sorry..."

"No, it's okay."

"But-" Amy started to say before she is interrupted.

**"Hey! Thanks for waiting up for us!"**

Rouge and Amy stopped talking for a moment to see familiar males that were exiting the G.U.N. building. The dark, red enchinda with purple eyes, long dread locks, and a muscled toned body that shown through his outfit. A black hoodie with a red UCLA shirt underneath, black and white Converses, and platinum wrist watch.

Next to him walked a blue hedgehog with familiar emerald eyes, long quills, well-toned body, and an air of cockiness about him. He was wearing a red and white shirt with black lettering on it that said 'Originality Is Dead', black skinny jeans, black, orange, and white Van's, and a black and orange hat with a white diamond emblem.

The two walked towards the girls with grins on their faces. They stopped in front of them.

"What are you girls talking about?" Knuckles asked with a small smile.

"Oh, ummm... nothing!" Rouge answered quickly as she gets a curious look from Amy.

Amy pouted and folded her arms. "Sure..."

Sonic and Knuckles looked to each other and smiled. "If you say so... anyway! What's up with you girls? Aren't you going to greet us?"

The two girls only laughed before Rouge ran up to Knuckles and hugged around his neck.

"AW, I MISSED YOU SO MUCH, KNUCKIE!" She smothered herself into him.

_'I'm sure I did, but then again... I'm not sure...'_

Knuckles blushed slightly and hugged her back. "Hehe! I can tell! I missed you too!"

Amy stop back with a small blush on her face as she's unsure of whether she should run up and hug Sonic or not.

_'I have to act more mature.. I have to act more mature.. I have- Ah!'_

Two strong arms wrap around her back pulling her into a tight hug. "S-Sonic?" The blue hedgehog smiled down at her.

"You were just standing there, so I decided to hug you myself! Oh, and you look really beautiful today, Ames." He said sincerely as he closed his eyes and continued to hug her.

"Really..? T-thank-you!"

Knuckles nudged Rouge getting her attention and pointed to the two in their embrace. Rouge smiled with a devious look in her eyes, as she was prepared to say something about then when Sonic opened his eyes and saw her mouth open.

"Mmm..."

Sonic winked towards his buddy and Knuckles caught the hint. He grabbed Rouge's arm, and pulled her along. "Hey! What are you-" His hand covered her mouth as he leaned in to whisper into her ear.

"Just come on, Rouge."

"Amy, I have to drive her home.."

"More like you're trying to be nosy!" He chuckled and shook his head. "I think she has a ride home already."

"But-" Rouge's eyes looked back to see Sonic leading Amy to his car. "Amy?" She called to her causing the both of them to turn around.

"Umm... Sonic's driving me home, okay?" Amy shyly answered her. By chance, Sonic's car was still parked in the parking lot since about two months ago. Since Knuckles hitched a ride with Sonic, his car was still home, so her leaving with Sonic and Knuckles with Rouge worked out for them.

"Okay.. Bye, Amy!" The white bat waved as she watched Sonic grab a hold of Amy's arm and walk off to his own car. A dark blue Bugatti Veyron Super Sport that matched both his speed and style. **  
**

The white bat smirked and turned back to her boyfriend. "Wonder what they have in mind.."

"What do you mean?"

"You know he's **not** taking her home."

He narrowed his eyes at her and chuckled again. "And you're not taking me home either. Got anything else to say with your nosy ass? Leave them kids alone!"

Rouge only laughed as she unlocked her car and hopped inside along with Knuckles.

**[.In The Car Ride Home.]**

"So how was the mission?" Rouge asked first out of all things as she drove along the road.

Knuckles rubbed the back of his head before he answered. "It was alright. The new recruits were falling behind and had me and Sonic saving their asses, but overall it was alright. What about you?"

"Work? Ugh, boring as ever!" She exaggerates making him laugh. On accident, her hands left the steering wheel for a quick moment making the car swerve to the side.

She screamed and gained control as a nearby car honked it's horn at her. "

"Geez, Rouge! If you wanted to end your life over a bad day at work, I could have had Sonic drive me home instead!" Knuckles jokes as her hand hit the back of his head.

"Say, what were you planning to do after work today?" Knuckles asked breaking the silence.

Rouge tilted her head in thought. "Mmm... sleep."

"Sleep?"

"Yes, Knucklehead. "I'm tired.. I barely got out of bed this morning. Claudia had to wake me up.."

"Sleep, mmm?" Knuckles sat back in his seat and closed his eyes with a smirk on his face. "That would be nice..

Rouge slightly blushed and knew Knuckles saw it. "W-well, what did you have in mind?"

"I'm hungry and it's my first day back, so why don't I treat you and myself to some dinner at that five star restaurant that opened a few weeks before I had to leave. You remember the name?"

The white bat sighed as she carefully thought of the name of the restaurant. "Le Chateau Fleur De Resturante?"

"Yeah, yeah! That one. Wanna go?"

_'I really wanted to just crash in my bed, but... it is his first day back after two months of being apart..'_

"Sure!"

**XoXooXOXooXoX**

"HEY, ROUGE! YOU READY?" The red enchinda stood at the bottom of the stairs in Rouge's mansion. He was wearing a black and white tux as he carefully adjusted his red tie. His foot tapped against the hard oak floor.

"JUST A MINUTE, KNUCKLEHEAD! IT TAKES TIME TO GET PERFECTION READY!"

Knuckles playfully rolled his eyes and sigh as he continued to wait. Ten minutes later, Rouge was still not ready.

"Gargh! Rouge, the reservations will be canceled, if we don't-"

The sound of heels clicked against the floor as his purple eyes scanned up the staircase to see his lover all ready for him and their date. A slim fitting, red dress bedazzled with fantastic jewels from head to toe, red stiletto heels, a silver heart necklace around her neck, and a silver bracelet on her right wrist.

Her make-up consisted of light red blush on her cheeks, a thin layer of gloss on her lips, dark eyeshadow. She slowly walked down the staircase showcasing her attired for the evening knowing that he watched her every step.

"The reservations wont be cancelled, because we're leaving right now." Rouge said once she reached the bottom of the stairs and faced him.

He smiled. "Yeah.." His hand grabbed around her waist and pulled her body towards his. Reaching down, his lips softly pecked onto hers making her blush. Without hesitation, she kissed him back with the same passion. After a few seconds, they pulled apart.

"Let's go." He held her hand and lead her to the door. He opened it for her and allowed her to walk out first. Just as he was about to shut it, a hand stopped him.

Claudia smiled. "Hi, there."

"Oh, hey. Claudia, didn't see you around the house." Knuckles smiled back at her and felt a hand grab his.

"Come on, the reservations, remember?" Rouge pulled him along.

"That's because I was taking a nap!" Claudia waved to them from the front door. "Have a good time, you two!"

**~7:03 p.m.~**

**[.Le Chateau Fleur De Resturante.]**

Arm in arm, Rouge and Knuckles walk into the restaurant and up to the receptionist desk where a short white, orange rabbit stood.

"Oh, hey, Rouge! Knuckles." Cream smiled at the two. "You two look good tonight."

"Hey, Cream." Rouge greeted her. Knuckles did the same.

_'Cream... she must have quit her old job of working at that small cafe and come to work here instead. She's another one of my friends. Although, not as close as Amy, Julie-Su, and Mina, she's still sweet whenever I get a chance to talk to her.'_

"So you guys' mission must have ended today?" The rabbit asked.

Knuckles spoke up to tell her. "Yeah, Tails had to stay behind and work on the airplane and some other technical stuff that I don't understand."

Cream giggled. "I see.."

_'She has a crush on our two tailed friend, but is too shy to admit it. Unlike our girl, Amy...'_

_"And Sonic, for all I know, drove Amy home, so I don't know where he is." Knuckled finished._

Rouge snickered. "Probably doing _you know what_..."

"Really Rouge? Would it make you feel better if I call him and ask what he's doing?" Knuckles asked her.

"Yeah, call him!"

"What?"

"Call. Him."

Knuckles grumbled as he reached into his pocket to pull out his cell. "I should have just kept my mouth shut."

"Too bad you didn't, now dial." Rouge smiled in his face. Cream could only look on as she watched Knuckles do as Rouge said.

**His phone rang for a couple of seconds until someone on the other end picked it up...**

"Yeah?" Sonic's voice sounded a bit tired and out of breath.

Knuckles raised an eyebrow as Cream and Rouge watched him. "Umm.. yeah.. listen, Rouge had me call you up and ask what you were doing."

"..." There was no answer, but in the background, Knuckles can hear Sonic talking to someone in a low voice, a female voice responding to him, movements, and...

_'Panting? Was that Amy in the background too?'_

"Sonic?"

"Busy." His friend finally answered.

"Busy with that?"

"Busy being busy. I'll talk to you later."

Dial tone.

"Haha!" Knuckles laughed as he put his phone away while Cream and Rouge gave him curious looks.

"What's so funny? What was he doing?"

The red enchinda scratched the back of his head. "Umm... you know."

"Oh, right! Busy getting **busy** with her!" Rouge let out a bit laugh and got everyone in the restaurant's attention. "I WAS RIGHT!"

"Yeah, you were right! Now can you quiet down before you get us kicked out." Knuckles got her to calm down. "I'm ready to eat now."

Cream laughed and nodded. "So a table for two?"**  
**

"Yeah, we have a reservation."

Cream checked the computer sitting at her desk. "Yes, if you would just follow me." She stepped out from her desk and lead the two through the restaurant and occasionally dodges waiters taking orders to people's table. She sat Rouge and Knuckles at a two seater table with candles lit, roses in small vases, and a silk table cloth.

Knuckles pulled Rouge's seat for her before he took his own. Cream placed menus down on their table and left to go direct a waiter to them.

"Well, this is nice." Rouge complimented the decor of the restaurant and sniffed the air. "And the food smells delicious!"

"Yeah, my stomach's growling. I haven't eaten any food like this for months!" Knuckles added into the conversation.

She smiled. "Didn't like the rations they had packed for you guys to eat while on the mission?"

"Hell naw! That crap! I would have rather have eaten dirt soaked in garbage than that shit any day.." Knuckles sounded dead serious about that making her laugh and shake her head even more.

**From the table next to them, an elderly glares at him for making a big commotion...**

"Oh, what are you looking at? Turn around!" Knuckles asked making the elderly couple turn back quickly to their own table.

Rouge laughed and shook her head as her hand reached forward to caress his. "Leave them alone." Knuckles only nodded as he squeezed her hand making her smile.

_'This is nice... being out like this.. but somehow I can't help, but feel.. strange.. this feeling... I can't shake it off. Like something doesn't feel right.'_

"Knuckles! Is that you?" A familiar voice asked all of sudden.

Rouge shut her eyes and gritted her teeth. "Don't tell me that's-"

"Haily." He told her as the brown, blue-eyed fox skipped right up to their table and stopped. She was wearing a waitress uniform that hugged her curves and black heels that matched her style.

"I didn't know you came back today!" Her voice sounded a little to high and eager to see him.

_'Ooh... that's the reason why I'm feeling weird? Haily? Since when did she work here?'_

"Yeah, umm.. we did! I didn't know you worked here." Knuckles said to her with a bit nervousness in his voice.

"I just started here a week ago!" Haily shyly twisted a lock of her hair as she smiled down at him. Knuckles, to be nice, smiled back, but looked to Rouge.

Her fingers tapped the table impatiently as she cleared her throat to make her presence known.

"Oh, Rouge. I didn't see you there!" Haily jumped from the site of her. "So you two on a date?"

_'You know you saw two people at this damn table! And isn't it obvious. or are you that stupid?'_

Rouge held her tongue. "Yes."

"That's so sweet! Hey, didn't you hear me when I called your name to hold the elevator at work today?" Haily asked curiously.

"Oh, the door shut before we could get it to stop." Rouge automatically lied to her.

"Elevator door? What happened?" Knuckles asked interrupting them.

Haily flashed his smile. "Funny thing, actually, I..."

**As Haily continued to chat up Knuckles, Rouge tuned out and turned her attention elsewhere...**

_'I wanna punch her in the face so bad...' _She thought to herself as she let out a tired sigh.

Her crystal, aquamarine eyes scanned the restaurant. In a split second, her eyes stop. They are locked dead on a black bat sitting across the room at a table with about five other people. He had short black hair with silver streaks throughout it, deep, red eyes, and he was wearing a tux like Knuckles._**  
**_

_'He looks new. Haven't seen him around before. Mmm... mysterious looking too... he looks kinda ho- Wait! Ugh, why am I thinking about that stranger! I'm on a date with Knuckles right now... __but I have to admit.. he doesn't look half-bad-"  
_

As soon as she said all of that in her thoughts, the bat turned his face turned her own and smirked.

_'Why did he just look at me like that? Could he have known what I was thinking? That's-'_

"Rouge?" Knuckles reached forward and nudged Rouge's arm to get her attention.

She snapped out o her gaze. "Huh? What?"

"I'm ready to take your order." Haily said with notepad in hand. "What would you like to dine on this evening?"

Rouge picked up her menu and so did Knuckles.

"A Cesar salad, ranch dressing, extra cheese, a bowl of pea soup with extra bread sticks." She told her order first and placed her menu down.

Haily wrote it down. "And you Knuckles?"

He looked up from his menu. "Well-"

"He will be having the same thing." Rouge answered for him.

"I will?" Knuckles questioned with a dumb look.

"Yes, you will. " Rouge said through a smile.

Haily wrote down the order with a unsure face and looked back up. "To drink?"

"Red wine." Rouge responded quickly.

Haily wrote it down. "Knuckles?" She said his name as her lips formed into a smile.

"I would like-"

"The same as me." Rouge talked over him.

"Okay..." Haily pouted a bit, but wrote it down before making a small bow. "I'll be right back with your drinks and your food will be ready momentarily!"

**As soon as she's out of earshot...**

"What was that?" Knuckles gave her a plain look.

"What?"

"I wanted a steak!"

Rouge folded a napkin across her lap. "Well, now you're having a salad."

"I'm paying for the damn food."

"I drove us both here!"

"Yeah, in the car I brought you!" He said back to her.

She responded back. "Well, I payed for the gas!"

"Yeah! With the money I gave you."

As they talked, their voices had grown to be quite loud judging from the looks they were getting from the other diners. Luckily, Knuckles quieted himself and Rouge down enough to ask her something.

"Alright, what's up with you?"

"She was flirting with you right in front of me!"

"She was just being nice." Knuckled assured you.

Rouge just scoffed. "Right..."

"Are you still mad at her for that one time? Can you please just move past that?"

"No, you and Amy may feel like I should forgive her for that. And maybe I should, but not for these others time I've watched her flirt with you knowing that **we** are together."

Knuckles shook his head. "It wasn't like I was flirting back."

"Well, how would you feel if another man came up and started flirting with me right in front of YOU?"

"..." He didn't respond, but gave her a blank stare only proving her point."

"My point exactly."

**As they were talking, Haily came back with their drinks and left to return with their meals. While Rouge got her salad and soup, Knuckles got a big slab of steak on his plate. Apparently overheard him shout that he wanted a steak and quickly changed his order to such. **

**During dinner, the two share an interesting conversation until all the food on their plate was gone...  
**

Knuckles sat back in his seat and rubbed his belly. "That was good. I'm stuff!"

"I'm surprised you ate that big slab of meat! It was huge!" Rouge said and held out her arms to emphasize the size of it.

"You sure you're not talking about my buddy down there?"

Rouge blushed, but ignored his perverted joke. "Whatever! You're still gonna get a fat gut from eating all that meat!"

"What? Never!" His hand rubs through his tux to his rock-hard abs as he shook his head. "NEVER..."

"Sure.." Rouge laughed and took a small sip of her wine.

"Would any of you like dessert?" Haily walked back to their table and cleared the dirty dishes from it.**  
**

"Yes." Rouge answered.

"No." Knuckles answered as well.**  
**

They both looked at each other and laughed.

"So is that a yes or..." Haily asked with a small laugh.

"No." Rouge answered.

"Yes." Knuckles answered again at the same time.

They laughed once again, and even Haily joined in on their laughter.

"You can get your dessert, Rouge." Knuckles said to her with warm smile.

Rouge shook her head. "No, you're full and probably want to get home now."

"No, it's-" Before he could get the rest of the words out, she was already looking at the menu and telling Haily her order.

"I would like the hot fudge, brownie ice cream sundae with extra cherries!"

Knuckles chuckled. "Well, damn. Talking about me getting fat. Your ass is gonna get fa-"

"I'll get that up and ready for you!" Haily talked over him and skipped away to go tell the chefs.

Rouge nodded and turned back to him. "Now, what were you about to say?" She eyed him suspiciously.

"O-oh, nothing!" He avoided eye contact and whistled while he looked elsewhere.

Next to their table, a group of colleagues were leaving the restaurant. Rouge looked up and her eyes meet with the same fellow she stared up before dinner. The black and silver bat with alluring red eyes. He noticed her staring and smirked back at her causing her to lower her eyes as she hide the blush he caused.

_'Why did he smile at me like that? I don't even know him, and he doesn't know me! Why is my heart racing? I have a boyfriend! Knuckles! We're on a date after his long two month mission, and here I am! Looking at other guys... Ugh...'_

Knuckles, who noticed about half of what just happened called her name. "Rouge, are you feeling okay?"

"Y-yeah! Just.. ready to eat my dessert, so I can get home and to sleep! Hehe..."

She grabbed her glass of wine, which had been left alone during most of their dinner and drunk until her hearts content while they waited for the dessert. She really wanted that guilty, strange feeling to go away, but it kept nagging at her until it was time to leave. Her dessert arrives, but by then she was a bit tipsy, so she only finished half of it along with the rest of her wine.

**~11:59 p.m.~**

**[.Back At Rouge's Home.]**

**The front door opened quietly knowing that Claudia would be in her room asleep by this hour. Rouge is slightly drunk, so Knuckles carried her upstairs and into her room. He flickered on the lights and walked over to her bed to lay her down...**

"Ugh... w-where are we?"

"Home." He smiled down and kissed her forehead.

Rouge groaned a bit and closed her eyes. "Uuuhhh... what happened?"

"You got a little drunk on wine and fudge ice cream, so I had to drive you home." He laughed as he answered her question.

"... shut up.." She began to snore softly, but stopped when she felt his presence move away from her.

"Where are you going?"

"Nowhere." Knuckles told her before he undid his tie and removed his jacket, and white shirt underneath. "Sleeping here tonight, if you don't mind."

"No..." She yawned as she slipped off her dress and kicked off her heels. She pulled up the sheets from the bed and climbed under them. Her head rested on the soft pillow, and she smiled.

_'Sleep... finally...'_

Soon, she felt a Knuckles climb into bed with her, but not before turning out the lights. He snuggled close to her and allowed her head to rest on his chest. "Goodnight, babe.."

"G-goodni..." She fell right to sleep making him smile and shut his own eyes. Together, the two fell asleep in her bed until the next morning.

* * *

**End~**

**Sorry if this chapter is not so great! Like I said before, it's my first time doing this couple's story, and I'm still getting used to it. xD  
**

**I appreciate the helpful reviews and alerts, and I'll continue to write on the this story as long as it please you.  
**

**Anyway...  
**

**READ/REVIEW  
**

**Peace!~  
**


	3. Chapter 3: Not Just a Coincidence

**Beautiful Mistake**

**Chapter 3: Not Just a Coincidence  
**

* * *

**~8:37 a.m.~  
**

**[.The Next Morning - Tuesday.]  
**

Our ivory bat slowly awakened from her night's sleep as she felt a pair of strong arms around her waist. From the sun shining into the room from her windows, she can already tell it's morning. As she lifted her head, a pounding headache meet her.

"Oooooh..." She groaned as she rubbed her forehead while she turned over to see Knuckles as he softly snored next to her.

_'Why did I get so drunk last night?_

_Oh, yeah... that black, red-eyed bat. I was staring at him and-  
_

_Ugh, I have to forget about whoever that was...  
_

_Knuckles must have drove me home and carried me to bed, because I don't even remember leaving that restaurant!'_

As she sighed out of annoyance, her tired eyes landed on her clock sitting on her bed stand. Her eyes grew wide as she saw what time of morning it was.

"Dammit! It's waaay past eight o' clock! Why the hell didn't Claudia get us up!?"

The alarmed bat quickly rushed to awake her sleeping boyfriend, but it proved to be a tough job. "Knuckles, wake up. We're late for work!"

"F-five more minutes.." He mumbled before he let her go and turned over in his sleep. Rouge growled lowly as she cursed lowly. Lifting her tired body from the bed, she stood up beside the bed and quickly walked to her bathroom. In a few seconds, she walked back out with a cup of cold water from the sink. She smiled evilly as she tiptoed to his side of the bed.

_'This should wake the knucklehead up really good...'_

She smiled to herself as she tips the plastic cup over and directly onto his face. Instantly, Knuckles jerked up from the cold sensation. His teeth chattered as he turned to see the one who'd done it.

"Rouge, what the hell was that for?"

"We're late for work that's what! And if we keep being idle like this, we'll be even later than we already are!" She warned Knuckles as she watched him jump up from the bed as the cold water dripped down his face and body.

"So now we have to get dressed. I have some of your clothes hanging up in my closet, so you don't have to drop by your place, alright?"

He rolled his eyes and decided to tease her a little. "Yeah, okay, mother!"

"Oh, shut up. You better go get dried off than sitting on my bed getting it more wet than you already made it." Rouge told him as she blushed slightly.

"But you threw the water on ME!"

"And you're point is?" She questioned as she shrugged.

"Ugh, nevermind... But I don't see what the big deal about being late to work. It's not like we're going to be fired or something."

_'You only say that, because you've never been late as many times as I have...'_

"Just hurry and get dressed while I go and take a shower, will ya?" She shook the thought from her mind as she remembered what she should be doing.

Just as she walked off toward the bathroom, he stopped her. "Wait, why can't I take a shower before I get dressed and you do?"

Rouge turned her head and smirked. "Because some of us aren't lucky enough to wake up and magically look hot! Some of us actually have to fix up ourselves up in the morning before going out."

"And what? I don't?" Knuckles asked with cockiness in his voice.

"Yeah, yeah. Besides you don't smell, because if you did, I would have told your ass, so stop talking and starting walking to my closet to get your clothes, Knucklehead!"

Knucles sat up in bed and let out a big yawn before he stood up to his feet. Without the slightest warning, he shook his long, red dreads free of the water, but ends up splashing it right onto Rouge. She stood in front of him with an angry face as she growled at him.

"Ooops?"

"Ooops my ass! Now, I gotta blow dry my hair!"

"Weren't you gonna do that anyway if you're going to take a shower?" He asked smartly as she shot an annoyed glare at him.

Rouge clenched her fist. "Fuck you."

"Just tell me time and place, or better yet why not now?" Knuckle started to tease his frustrated again, and he gets a noticeable blush out of her.

Without saying another word, she put her back to him and walked across her room to enter the bathroom. After the door slammed shut, Knuckles laughed aloud before he walked to her closet to get dressed. Inside, he found a black wife beater, green army jeans, and a pair of black timberland boots.

He's dreads have dried up some, so he quickly gets into his clothes and turned back to Rouge's room. With extra time on his hands, Knuckles made up Rouge's bed and then sat down to wait on her.

"Now, all I have to do is wait for her." He said to himself as he yawned tiredly.

_'Shouldn't be too long though. By the way she was rushing me to get up...'_

**Thirty minutes later...**

Knuckles knocked on the bathroom door after he took a quick look at his watch. "Rouge, would you hurry up? I thought you were so worried about being late-"

Suddenly, the bathroom door slammed open to reveal Rouge all dressed and ready to go. Her outfit for the day was a blue skinny jeans, a white floral top, an aquamarine blazer with gold buttons, and black Armani boots. Her white hair was in crisp curls and her make up is delicately applied as she smiled at him.

The way she fixed herself up got Knuckles in a complete daze which made her blush.

"Heeeeeeeelllloooo? Earth to Knuckles? Is your brain still in that big head of yours?"

He shook his head and chuckled nervously. "Yeah, yeah. It's just that you look beautiful this morning."

"Awe, thanks. I try.." Rouge told him sheepishly. "So you ready to go?"

"Yeah, you?"

"Of course. Let's go before we miss anything important."

**Together the two of them leave her bedroom, until...**

"Wait! Forgot my bag and my cellphone!" Rouge remembered quickly and turned back to her bedroom to find it. Knuckles sighed and shook his head and stood by her door to wait. As he waited, he recalled something and decided to ask her about it.

"What about Amy? I thought you've been driving her to work all this time?" Knuckles asked her as she searched around for her bag.

She didn't respond until she found her bag hidden among her many items on her dresser. "Don't you remember Sonic taking her home yesterday? I think he'll be driving her to work from now on."

"Oh, right.."

Rouge rolled her eyes and flew over to him. She reached up to give him a kiss on the cheek. "Yeah, don't think too much. Don't wanna ruin that pretty face of yours."

"Yeah, and don't you yell at me so much. Don't wanna get wrinkles on that pretty face of yours.." Knuckles said on the sly with a smile on his face.

"What was that!?"

"N-nothing, nothing..."

"Better be nothing, now let's go!"

**In the next few seconds, the two quickly jogged down the stairs to see Claudia as she busily cleaned up the house...  
**

"CLAUDIA!"

"Huh?" The young maid turned around surprised by the sound of Rouge's angry voice. "Oh, good morning! How was your night last night?"**  
**

"Well, I didn't want to walk in on you guys just in case you were having... umm.. an early morning moment!" Claudia said nervously as she held her feather duster behind her.

Rouge, with a tint of red on her face, narrowed her eyes. "Right... in any case, we gotta get going, so come on, Knuckie!"

"Knuckie? H-hey!"

The ivory bat had grabbed her boyfriend's hand and pulled him almost forcibly out the door. Claudia laughed silently and walked to the front door to see them off.

"Goodbye, you two! Have a good day at work!"

* * *

**After a fast drive across the busy streets of Metropolis, Rouge and Knuckles barely made it into the building before nine. The two ran towards the elevator door just in time before the door closed on them. Exhausted from all the running, they waited patiently for the elevator to reach their assigned floor where the meeting room is located...  
**

**[.Upper Floor of G.U.N. Building.]**

"We gotta hurry! We gotta hurry!" Rouge repeated over and over again as she raced down the hall with Knuckles right behind her.

"H-hey, slow down, would ya?" He yelled while he breathed heavily from tiredness. "We're already late anyway, so why don't we just walk?"

All of a sudden, Rouge stops in the middle of the hallway with her boots scratching the floor. Frowning a bit, she folds her arms over and chest and looked back to see her boyfriend as he ran to catch up.

Knuckles came to a sudden halt, but he ended up tripping over himself right in front of her. "What was that for?"

"I can't be late anymore or they'll dock my pay, so who knows what they'll do if I show up over an hour late?"

"Wait, how many times have you been?"

"Enough talking!" Rouge reached down to grab his hand. She turned on her heels and flew down the hall and dangled him along with her.

"Aaaaah! Wait, we're only five feet from the meeting room Rouge!"

**In the meeting room, many of the agents were already seated and now waited for the meeting to begin. Among the many agents are Shadow, Julie-Su, Tails, Storm, Jet, Wave, Haily, and others. They all sat at a long silver table, and all had black folders with important papers inside regarding today's meeting. **

**Standing at the head of the room, was the commander of G.U.N. An older, male wolf. Short, grey haircut, strong, blue eyes, and a muscular build. He was wearing a ironed black suit and shined, black shoes. He patiently tapped his foot on the floor as he looked down at his watch...  
**

"Where in the hell is-"

All of sudden, Rouge flew through the black double doors with Knuckle's hand in hers. She let go of his hand and let him drop to the floor.

"Made it! Well.. at least we're here.."

"Hey! You coulda set me down gently. Didn't have to drop me like that." Knuckles said as he picked himself up from the floor while he rubbed his bottom.

Rouge gasped and smiled nervously as she played with her fingers. "Oh, sorry, Hun. Hehe..."

All the talking in the room immediately ceased as everyone turned to look.

"Late again.. and with Knuckles. Why am I not surprised? Shadow, who sat in his assigned seat, shook his head at the sight and then turned back to the folder in front of him.

"I'm not covering for you this time."

Rouge placed her hands on her hips. "Well, you didn't have to announce it, Shad!"

"What did I say about calling me that?" The black and red hedgehog said under his breathe.

Julie-Su laughed to herself. "Can you two stop arguing long enough to say hi to each other properly?"

"No!" Rouge and Shadow said at once which caused many of the agents to laugh.

"Excuse me?"

The commander cleared his throat to get their attention. "Thank you for joining us, Agent Rouge and Knuckles. Now if you would kindly take your seats?"**  
**

"Oh, right, but-" Rouge nodded her head nervously.

Knuckles finished her sentence. "Where should we sit? There's not many empty seats left..."**  
**

"HEY, YOU TWO CAN SIT NEXT TO ME!" A female voice called out to them. Across the room, Haily smiled gingerly as she had three empty sits next to her.

"Oh, there are some seats by Haily." Knuckles told Rouge.

She shook her head and folded her arms. "I'd rather stand on the wall."

Knuckle's laughed. "Oh, come on. She wont bite!"

"I'll bite her if she so much as touches you!" Rouge whispered harshly back to him.

"So I can assume you wont be taking those seats next to her with me, right?"

"Umm.. no!"

"Well, then.. suit yourself."

"Huh?" By the time, Rouge turned around, Knuckles already had taken a seat next to Haily and now waved for her to sit to him. The white bat groaned aloud as she had no choice, but to sit there in fear of Haily flirting with her boyfriend again or anything of that nature.

_'Just my luck!'_

Rouge dropped down in the chair andlooked out of the corner of her eye to see Haily as she smiled and giggled while she talked to Knuckles. Being the gentleman that he is, he talked to her right back.

"Why I outta-"

Just before she had gotten the words out, a piece of paper hit her on the head. "Alright, who threw this?"

She looked around to see Julie-Su eyes right on her from across the table. "Finally, I got your attention!"

"Oh, why'd the hell you throw a piece of paper? You could have just called my name like a normal person!"

"Well, I did like five times, but you were too busy glaring at Haily to hear me!" Julie-Su teased as Rouge only rolled her eyes.

"Whatever girl..." Rouge laughed. "So what's up? I can tell the meeting hasn't even started yet!"

_'So much for running all the way here...'_

"Well, word is that we have some new recruits coming in! At least that's what it says in the folders."

"Really? Boys or girls? Or both?"

Julie-Su shrugged. "Dunno. Amy is the one to tell us all this and introduce them, remember? But she isn't here yet! I thought she would be coming with you..."

"Amy? Not here?" Rouge took a quick look around and noticed that Sonic was missing as well. "Oh, well, let's just say Miss Amy had a goodnight with our boy, Sonic, so she should be arriving soon.."

"What? Really?" Julie-Su asked sounding surprised, but in truth she really wasn't. "I so knew they would get together soon."

Rouge nodded her head and took a quick look toward Knuckles to see him and Haily as they continued to talk.

"Me too..."

_'Ugh!_ _Haily, needs to shut her big mouth._

_And talk to her own boyfriend!  
_

_If she ever gets one that is...'  
_

Tails, who listened in on the conversation, laughed himself. "So that's why he didn't answer my texts last night or today."

"Yeah, so did you go to see Cream last night? She was working at her new job at ." Rouge asked him slyly.

"Oh, u-umm.. yeah." The yellow and white fox blushes slightly as he leaned back in his chair. "I picked her up from work and took her home.

Rouge smirked. "Oh really? And what did you two do after that?"

"Rouge, stop getting in their business!" Julie-Su stopped her from questioning the fox anymore. "And tell me what you and Knuckles did last night."

"Girl, we out to eat at Le Chateau Fleur De Resturante, and that food was soooo good. BUT I got so wasted by the end of the night, but luckily Knuckles drove me home and got me in bed. And my hangover is gone now!" Rouge admitted.

_'Dammit!_

_ I just remembered that guy I saw last night._

_I can still feel his eyes staring at me like they did...'  
_

Julie-Su nodded. "Aaah.. I see..."

Rouge sighed and turned away as soon as she saw someone else as they wanted to speak to Julie-Su for the moment. As she sat at her seat, her fingers tapped on the tabled before she decided to pull out her cell to text her friend.

**Rouge - Where da hell r u 2?**

**Amy - Woke up late... **

**Rouge -Of course.. but from wat?  
**

**Amy - Watever, girl. Comin in a few sec. Sonic's runnin dere! :D**

"In 1... 2... 3-" Rouge counted on her fingers.

**The double doors suddenly opened wide and gust of wind nearly blowed everyone's papers off the table. In a split second, Amy appeared and stood in front of the room. Her attire is a short black pencil skirt, baby blue top, and black high heels. Her pink hair is slightly And right next to Rouge now sat Sonic leaning back in his chair with his arms behind his head and feet up on the table...  
**

"Sorry for the lateness. Traffic was a bitch." Sonic said cockily as the Commander gave him an annoyed look.

Rouge rolled her eyes and tapped Knuckles on the shoulder. "Your friend is here."

"Huh?" Knuckles turned from Haily and looked toward her and the blue hedgehog next to him. "Oh, hey, man? Had a fun night?"

Sonic smirked a bit and nodded his head. "Ha! You could say that!"

"Yeah, we heard you guys when we called you too." Rouge commented with a laugh as Sonic did the same.

The Commander suddenly called everyone to attention. The whole meeting room was silent in order to listen. "Now, we can get this meeting underway! Miss Rose?"

"What? Oh, right!" Amy said nervously as she stood in front of them all. "Well, today We are welcoming five new recruits from Russia, Kuwait, and Japan. From these different countries, we've selected their best operatives to join our own forces to help on upcoming important missions. And as of today, these agents will be official members of G.U.N."

The Commander nodded in approval. "Good. Now, may you go and get them?"

"Oh, right! I will."

Rouge laughed at her friend's nervousness watched the pink hedgehog leave.

**As Amy left to go and get them, everyone was talking about the identity of the new recruits...**

"Wonder who'll be joining today?" Sonic asked aloud.

"Who knows? I wonder what they'll be like.." Rouge asked after him. "Hopefully not another boyfriend stealer!"

"Rouge.." Knuckles said her name. "Can you please just put that behind you?"

She shook her head. "No, because she's sitting right _next_ to you!"

He rolled his eyes and sighed before pulling his girlfriend to his side. "I only have eyes for you, Rouge. And you should know that." He whispered in her ear making her face turn red.

"Yeah.. I know." Rouge couldn't help, but to smiled as he pulled her face toward his to kiss her lips. The feeling was intoxicating and left sparks through Rouge's whole body once they pulled away.

"Oh, there they are!" Julie-Su said in a fairly loud voice and is heard from across the table.

Rouge, along with everyone else looked up to see the doors opened as Amy walked in with the new recruits behind her.

"What the-" To Rouge complete surprise, her eyes landed on a familiar male who she never thought she would see again. It's the same black bat with short black hair with silver streaks and deep, red eyes that seemed to look right through her.

_'Wait, what is HE doing here?_

_I only saw him just last night at the restaurant and now..._

_He's working at the same place as I am!?'_

* * *

******End~  
**

******A/N: Sorry for any mistakes and anything I missed, but I just had to get this chapter out tonight! I promise to reread and fix this chapter, if needed!**

******Anyway, I'm soooooooooooooo, so sorry for not updating this since last month! I have no excuse except school and work, so yeah... I'm sorry, but I managed to get this updated again before anyone starts get upset about it. Again, I'm sorry for my lateness and will try to get the next chapter up as soon as possible.**

******(I Promise!)**

******Anyway...  
**

******READ/REVIEW  
**

******Peace!~  
**


	4. Chapter 4: Just Being Friendly

**A/N: I know. I know it's been a while again (LAST YEAR) since I've updated, and I apologize for the delay. As you may all know by now, I've been having other things I've need to tend to, but I haven't forgotten this story. Now, before I start to rabble on and on... Enjoy the chapter, xD**

**Beautiful Mistake**

**Chapter 4: Just Being Friendly **

* * *

**XoXooXOXooXoX**

**[.Still In G.U.N. Building - Meeting Room.]  
**

**The meeting room was filled with various whispers and comments about the new recruits as they entered the room. Rouge, who sat cold still, didn't say a thing, but only stared in their direction...  
**

_What the hell is HE doing here?_

_This can't be right! _

_The guy from last night is actually... our new co-worker!?_

Rouge, who managed to keep her mouth closed, stared straight at the well-dressed bat as he made his way to the front of the room along with the rest of his colleagues. As he turns around, his fire red eyes met her own. Not to her own accord, she felt her face burn with embarrassment which caused the male to smirk confidently.

"Damn!" She silently cursed to herself as she looked away.

_Caught me staring a him again..._

"What's the matter?" Knuckles asked as he noticed her acting a bit strangely.

Rouge shook her head. "Umm.. it's nothing. Don't worry about it!"

"Are you sure? Your face is looking a bit... flushed?"

"Yeah.. I'm just a little warm in this room, okay? Stop worrying so much, Knuckie!" Rouge teased him to get his mind off of her behavior.

The red enchida rolled his eyes. "So you're starting with the nicknames again?"

"Quiet down, everyone." Their commander quickly ordered them as he then turned to Amy. He gestured to her to introduce each of the new members. There were four males and two females. Each one had their own characteristics that set them apart, but, aside from that, they all seem to have the same professional attitude.

Amy nodded and stepped beside the first male. He's a tall and slim, red and white tiger with yellow eyes. Even with his slim stature, his muscled showed well through his black muscle shirt and cargo pants. "Okay, first off I would like to introduce all of you to the new members of the team. This is Agent Brace. He specializes in hand-to-hand combat and long-distance sniper shooting."

"It's a pleasure to meet all of you." His voice sounded deep as he spoke to all of them.

"Next, we have Agent Buff." True to his name, the muscle-bound, brown, green-eyed bear, towered over Amy's obviously smaller frame. "He specializes in hand-to-hand combat as well. In fact, he's a certified black belt and has trained in the world's most prestigious martial arts academy."

He smirked. "Yes, and I have many other skills as well that will surely be of some use. Nice to be part of the team."

Amy smiled a bit and continued on to the next person. "Now, we have Agent Ross. His major skill include computer software and hacking into databases and military systems, and he builds machines and all other types of equipment. He's quite useful in hand-to-hand combat if needed be."

Agent Ross is small, but nicely built, young wolf with grey fur and crystal blue eyes. Also, his face, are a pair of stylish black glasses.

"The pleasure is all mine."

"Right! Next we have..."

In her seat, Rouge narrowed her eyes at the next male in line. The mysterious red-eyed bat who she'd seen the night before. His very presence sent her on edge. The desire to know his name and what he was about instantly consumed her thoughts.

_Him..._

_I wonder what his name is?_

**A few minutes have already passed as Rouge thought about his name, and Amy still hadn't come up with his information sheet...**

"Oh, I seem to have misplaced your papers!" Amy quickly realized as she searched for them. "Agent... agent.. agent..."

Their commander frowned in her direction and shook his head. "Can we hurry this along please?"

"Hehe he.." She laughed nervously. "Sorry, but I'm trying!"

**As everyone waited for her to formally introduce him, Rouge couldn't help but to stare at the black, red-eyed bat as he stood in front of the room. An infinite number of possible names came into mind, but none of them seemed to fit his appearance. Out of nowhere, a deep, mesmerizing voice startled Rouge out of her staring trance...**

_My name is... Azel..._**  
**

"Huh? A-Azel? Who's Azel?" Rouge said out loud by mistake. In doing so, she drew everyone's attention her way. In the front of the room, the black bat silently chuckled to himself from her reaction. On both sides of him, his partners shook their heads and immediately knew what he'd done.

"What the-"

At the table, Haily, Knuckles, Sonic, Tails, Julie-Su, and Shadow gave her questioning looks. All of them wondered why she said a name like that all of sudden.

"Rouge? Who's Azel?"

She wore a nervous look on her face as she tried to the find the words to explain. "I umm... don't know. It just came to me. In my head..."

"Came to you in your head? You're joking. right?" Sonic questioned her and decided to joke around with her. "You sure you're not going crazy or anything?"

"Sonic, leave her alone. She's probably still tired or something." Tails told him.

"Mmm..." Shadow kept his mouth shut, but still had his eyes on her. His eyes go from Rouge to the black bat in front of the room.

_So that's one of his abilities?_

_Interesting..._

Julie-Su called out to her in concern and curiosity. "Are you alright, girl? You seriously hearing voices in your head?"

"Yeah, I'm good." Rouge told her right away. "And... I'm so sure I heard a voice speak to me in my mind.."

"I don't think so..." Sonic said slyly as he looked off in another direction.

Rouge shot the blue hedgehog a glare, and then folded her arms as she slumped back in her seat. "Well, I do! I think..."

_He told me his name in my head?_

_What?_

_Is he telepathic or something?_

"You think what?" Knuckles asked with much curiosity.

Rouge tried to find the words to explain. "I actually think he-"

"AGENT Azel!" Amy suddenly said as she held his information sheet up in the air. "This is Agent Azel. I'm sorry for not being more organized."

Azel shook his head in modesty. "It's quite alright, Miss..."

"Amy! My name is Amy." She told him with a flustered look.

He smiled earnestly and took a step up to her. He took up her hand and gently kissed it before he looked back up to her. "No need to be nervous. I'm sure anyone, with a busy a job as you, would make the same mistake at least once."

"O-oh, umm... T-thank-you." Amy blushed a bit as he took a step back in his place with his partners.

Azel shook his head once more. "Please, it was nothing."

_That was strange..._

"Very strange..." Rouge muttered to herself as she heard a grumble from Sonic, who sat next to her.

"I swear, if he does that again, I'll-"

Knuckles cut him off and laughed jokingly. "Calm down, Sonic. I think he's only being friendly."

"Yeah, there's nothing wrong with being too friendly!" Haily laughed along with him.

Rouge suspiciously narrowed her eyes light brown fox. "But there is a limit as to how friendly you can be..."

"Right!" Sonic quickly agreed with her as he crossed his arms over his chest. Knuckles only laughed as he turned his attention back to the front of the room.

Amy began to speak again with the blush still on her face. "W-well! Umm.. Agent Azel major skills are mainly in hand-to-hand combat, flight, weaponry, and interrogation. He also has a skill known as telepathy and mind reading."

_I was r-right!? _

_So he did tell me..._

Rouge took a breath in and out, and she whispered quietly to herself. "But why-"

_... would he tell me of all people?_

_He could have easily told Amy, so she wouldn't have to keep looking for his information sheet, but instead..._

_... Me?  
_

**Rouge was so consumed in her thoughts that she failed to noticed that Amy moved on to introduce the final two of the new agents. Both were female. One was a sea-green bird with straight hair down to her shoulders, blue eyes, and a tattooed star below her right eye. Her special skilled included fighting, flight, disguise, and a master of twelve languages. Her name was Starla.  
**

**The next female was a dark purple hedgehog with short, but curly hair tied in a ponytail, grey eyes, and flower tattooed on her neck. Her specialty included fighting, speed, agility, weaponry, informant, and assassinations. Her name was Flora...  
**

"Rouge? Rouge, you there?" Knuckles shook his girlfriend's shoulder to get her attention. He'd noticed her not paying attention and the 'thinking' look on her face.

"Huh? Oh.. I kinda spaced out for a minute there.." Rouge admitted quietly as she was still tuned into her thoughts.**  
**

Knuckles raised an eyebrow and recalled the flushed look she had earlier. "Maybe you need some rest?"**  
**

"No, it's okay. I'm fine, Knuckie."

"Yeah, she's fine, Knuckie!" Haily copied Rouge's nickname for Knuckles. "Don't worry so much."

Rouge gasped and shook her head as Haily turned back around toward the front of the room. With her back turned, Rouge reached over Knuckles to get to her, but is stopped before she could do a thing.

"Haily, I think you're being too friendly right now, so why don't you-"

"Rouge!"

The commander stepped forward to speak over everyone. "Now that we have introductions out of the way, I say it's time to do some field training so you can all test out your skills. I want everyone down in the training room as soon as possible. Is that understood?"

"Yes, sir!"

"Good.. Tails, I want you to head to control room immediately to get the courses ready! Agent Ross will be accompanying you. This meeting is now dismissed."

**Around the table and at the front of the room, everyone began to leave their seats and head out the door. Sonic jumped up from his seat and walked straight up to Amy to pull her aside. The cause was probably about what happened with the kiss on the hand from Agent Azel. Rouge laughed and rolled her eyes as she and Knuckles got up from their seats. Like a gentlemen, Knuckles pulled her seat out for her and took her by the hand...  
**

"LET'S GETTING MOVING, EVERYONE!" The commander yelled into the room to get the few remaining agents up and out.

"Ugh, we heard you the first time..." Rouge grumbled making Knuckles laugh.

He placed an arm around her shoulder and lead her toward the door to leave. "Eh, you should be used to that by now, babe."

"Yeah, I know. But can't he use his inside voice like everyone else? I mean, we're not children." Rouge said with a laugh. "But then again, he used to be a drill sergeant in the-"

**Before they could make it out of the door, they are stopped by a certain new, male agent...**

"A-Azel?" Rouge stuttered as he stepped right in front of her and Knuckles.

His red eyes stare into her own and made her even more nervous than she had previously been. She felt her face burning red with heat as she tried to keep her composure. "I don't think we had a proper chance to meet."

"Ummm.. n-not really." She responded right back to him and tried not to sound so shaken by his appearance.

Azel smiled and took her by the hand which caused her to blush. He smirked up at her he gently kissed her hand as he did Amy, but with her, he held her hand a bit longer. "My name is Azel as you already know, and you?"

"Rouge! A-and this is my boyfriend, Knuckles."

_I noticed by the way he's holding you..._

_And.. I remember last night at the restaurant too.  
_

_You were on a date, I assume?  
_

"Huh?" You..." Rouge said just as she heard his voice inside her head once again.

_I'm sorry if I startled you before.  
_

_I didn't mean to...  
_

"No, it's okay. I'm just not used to someone speaking into my mind..." Rouge said in a low, shy voice. Completely unlike her normal, confident, and womanly self, her boyfriend started to feel uncomfortable with them talking, and he not knowing what was being said.

Reading his mind, Azel then addressed Knuckles behind her. "My apologizes, nice to meet you, Knuckles. Looks like we'll be working together now."

"Mmmm..." Knuckles, who felt a bit intimidated, held onto Rouge a bit more before he addressed him. "Yeah, how you doing, man?"

"Good, good." From behind, Azel's teammates walked past him and tapped his shoulder. He nodded to them and looked back to Rouge. "Anyway, I should be getting down to the training room, see you there."

"Yeah... see you there..." Rouge said as her eyes followed behind him. Her heart pounded as she watched his figure as he walked away with his friends.

As soon as he's out of earshot, Knuckles growled lowly. "Who does that guy think he is? Kissing your hand like that, and I'm standing right here?"

"What are you talking about?" She asked him questioningly.

"He just stopped us out of nowhere, and he-" Knuckles started to complain, but Rouge shook her head.

"Knuckles, he was only-"

"He was only being friendly!" Sonic mocked as he walked past them out of the door along with Amy who only laughed. "Ya can't be too friendly!"

Rouge laughed as well and turned back to her boyfriend who had an irritated frown on his face. "Yeah, he has a point, Knuckles. Aren't you that way with Haily?"

"What? Wait, don't turn this around on me. I'm just saying-" She stopped him by giving him a kiss on the lips and hugging around his waist.

"Just forget it... Knuckie. Let's go before we're the last ones to the training room... again."

**XoXooXOXooXoX**

* * *

**To the commander's request, everyone headed to the training room located seven floors below them. In category of flying, combat, and speed, the agents were split into teams based on their talents and abilities...**

Rouge, Starla, Jet, Wave, Storm, Azel, and a few others were in the flight team.

Sonic, Shadow, Keith, Flora, and other agents capable of running had high speeds were in another team.

Knuckles, Buff, Brace, Julie-Su, and the other strong agents were in the strength/fighting team.

Other areas of abilities were also being trained, such as disguise, learning to use new gadgets, and weapon specialty.

**One into their own groups, everyone went their own ways, because each had their own training room where they are assigned too.  
**

**With Rouge, she was currently in the locker room and getting changed into her training outfit. A semi-tight, black body suit and black boots that hugged at each one of curves, but still protected her from any form of harm that could come her way. **

**In the mirror, she tied her long, white hair into a bun, so that none of it would get in the way...  
**

"All done.." She sighed as she looked herself up and down in the mirror.

_Azel..._

_I'm going to have to be training and working with him starting today...  
_

_I just hope I can remain focused and not get distracted again-  
_

"Nice outfit, I guess we have similar tastes."

Startled, Rouge quickly turned to see Starla standing there in a similar attire. "O-oh, it's you."

"Hehe, nice to meet you." Starla chuckled as she smiled a bit. "Your name is Rouge, if I'm not mistaken."

"Yeah, and yours is Starla. Nice to meet you"

"Yeah... hey, sorry if Azel scared you with his telepathy thing.." Starla started to say. "We always tell him that he could give someone a heart attack doing that! That careless idiot..."

Rouge chuckled a bit, but shook her head. "It's alright, I'm just not used to it."

Starla nodded understandingly and pointed towards the door. "Glad to hear it. Want to get going?"

"Sure."

**Together, the two of them head out to the training field where the others were already waiting for them. The room had a large amount of space inside. Longer than more than three football fields and nearly as high as the Empire State Building. Currently, right before them, the field is being built and set up technically by Tails, along with Agent Ross, up in the control room...**

"This is a nice place, you got here." Starla commented as her eyes watch many large walls, barriers, and robots going up before them.

Rouge laughed and nodded. "Yeah, Tails can really set these things up for us."

"I can see!"

As they continued to way, Rouged began to look around the room. Unintentionally, her eyes met with Azel who stood with the other male agents. He wore a simple grey short, a red muscle shirt, and matching shoes with a unique symbol on the sides of them. Completely, unlike the other male's attire, but still suitable nonetheless.

_Mmm,_

_I can't keep my eyes off of him for some reason-  
_

_Wait, I have a boyfriend! Knuckles, so why am I getting like this around Azel?_

_A guy I just met...  
_

Suddenly, the overhead suddenly turns on, and Tails' voice spoke to them. "The field is done and ready to go. For the new agents, I think a volunteer is suitable to show them how it works! Rouge, would you like to do the honors?"

"Huh? Me?" The white bat looked up to the control panel to see Tails nod in her direction. "Alright, I guess I can."

Starla smiled in her direction. "Show us how it's done!"

"Oh, I will!" Rouge smiled too and walked up to the field.

Wave, who stood next to Jet and Storm, gave her a thumbs up. "Good luck, Rouge!"

"Oh, I wont need it, Hun!" Rouge said as her confidence shined brightly, but it soon became shaken as she turned her head to see Azel, who stared straight at her. Quickly, she looked away and turned her attention to the field.

**Without any trouble, she used her wings to take flight into the air. She flew to starting point that was at least fifty-feet in the air.****..**

With everyone's eyes on her, Rouge mentally prepared herself. "Concentrate.. just concentrate... and you'll do fine."

_I'm sure you will do fine,_

_Don't worry so much.  
_

"Azel!?" Rouge stammered as she shook her head. With all her might, she kept herself from stealing a glance down at him. _  
_

_Great.. Now, I'm all nervous!_

"Thanks a lot!" She said to herself as she folded her eyes under her chest.

_Hehe, sorry about that..._

"I forgot he could read minds..." Rouge quietly mumbled to herself as she heard him chuckle in her head. "Aaargh! I have to get focus already!"

"ARE YOU READY, ROUGE?" Tails asked loudly on the overhead.

Rouge growled and turned herself to yell right back at him. "YEAH, YEAH! YOU DON'T HAVE TO YELL, YOU KNOW!"

"OKAY!"

**[.In the Control Room.]**

** Tails showed Agent Ross how everything worked, and he quickly caught on. Now, the fox sat back in his seat and let Agent Ross do the honors...**

"Press Start."

With a smirk, Agent Ross did as he was told and sat back to watch Rouge's training session begin. A large alarm went off inside the large room.

**[.Back on the Field.]**

** Rouge quickly flew onto the field when she heard starting alarm go off. The goal is to make it through the field and back with little or no scars at all. Also, the field could change into any environment. The jungle, a crowded city, in mountain, the north pole, the desert, you name it...**

With skill, she flew through barriers and obstacles in her way. Up and over opposing walls, through trees, and even fences avoiding popping up in her way.**  
**

Stopping in mid-air, Rouge eyes a robot that aimed its gun right toward her. She locked eyes with it as its gun shot out a red laser in her direction. Pushing herself to the side, she avoids the shot. She looked back to see the laser strike through a wall, she'd flew over seconds ago.

"Damn, lasers.."

To everyone's complete knowledge, the robots used in training had real lasers, poison, and bullets installed into them, so that it would help the agents by showing exactly how it will be on a real job. Of course the infirmary was always nearby to fix them right up just in case.

Remembering the robot still right in front of her, Rouge flew up just in time as even more shots were fired at her. With a swift kick down the middle of the robot, she destroys it instantly. From below, she can hear the amazed agents obviously impressed by her skills.

"I am soooo good!" Rouge said confidently as she took off flying. She ran into more robots, but dealt with them the same way, she had done the previous one.

One by one, she took each of them down and continued on her way through the field. In a matter of minutes, she reached the end and had to turn back to finish the session.

"Okay, now getting through is the easy part.. getting back is a different story..." Rouge remembered as she turned back to see the field as it changed before her eyes. This time it looked more dangerous than before. She took a breath in and out before diving back onto the field.

More and more barriers and walls popped up in her way, which made her have to be even more careful and quick in her movements.

"Looks like Tails is trying to kill me!" Rouge joked darkly as she spotted bombs up ahead. "Bombs too? Poisonous ones at that!"

Seeing a good amount of them, she quickly flew over them and avoided them as they went off one by one. For a second or two, she looked back to see a green gas being released by them. More of them were ahead of her, but at least she was able to get those.

"Yup, those are poisonous.."

_Impressive..._

Just by hearing his voice again, Rouge became distracted for a split second, but it was just enough time for her to get hit by a poison bomb ahead at her. The green fumes quickly surround her. She coughed and swatted the poisonous fumes away, but it was too late.

".. Oh no..."

_Are you okay? _

_What happened?  
_

Azel asked her quickly in concern. "This poison.. it's.. numbs the body!"

**Losing her ability to keep flight, Rouge plummeted to the ground. The use of her wings was not available due to them being shot with a numbing solution by one of the robots. She cursed to herself as she realized how careless she'd been...  
**

"Dammit! Why did I get distracted when I was almost done!"

"ROUGE, ARE YOU OKAY?" Tails yelled on the overhead, but she was unable answer back to him fast enough. He quickly moved to stop the session to check on her condition.**  
**

However, in the blink of an eye, she stopped falling.

"H-huh? What's going on?"

_I gotcha!  
_

"W-what?" Rouge asked as she felt two strong arms pick up her. Azel had flew onto the field and through all the barriers to save her.

"Are you alright?"**  
**

Rouge, who blushed madly, was able to nod her head a little bit as she avoided his enticing red eyes. "Y-yeah, my wings are a little numb, but I'm okay."**  
**

"Good, sorry, I distracted you. It's a bad habit of mine." He joked as he slowly took them back to the ground.

"It's okay. I'll be fine after a few minutes. The effects don't last very long, thankfully-" She stopped to look down at the ground to see everyone looking right at the both of them. Starla had a irritated look right on Azel as he only rolled his eyes.

Rouge laughed quietly, but then her eyes grew wide when she saw a particular pair as they glared angrily.

Knuckles' purple eyes as they looked up at them. He'd just finished his training session and came to check on Rouge. By the look on his face, she could tell he was not pleased by what he saw.

_Oh no..._

* * *

**End~**

**I'm really sorry for the terribly long wait for all those who have been waiting for this to be updated. In truth, this chapter has already been done since last year, but for some reason, it didn't sit well with me, so I kept rewriting it. But now I feel that's it was good enough to finally be released!  
**

**Now, that I have my confidence back, I'll make sure I update this story as often as my other two! :)  
**

**I may come back and revise this chapter again, but this is it for now. Until next update,  
**

**READ/REVIEW**

**Peace!~  
**


	5. Chapter 5: Getting to Know Each Other

**A/N: Eehh, I know I'm late again with this update, but hey! I still got it done. :D**

**So anyway, I hope you all enjoy reading it, because I'm starting to like writing on this story more and more, believe it or not! It's a nice change of pace, you know?**

**Anyway, **

**Happy reading...**

**Beautiful Mistake**

**Chapter 5: Getting to Know Each Other  
**

* * *

**XoXooXOXooXoX**

"What's the matter?" Azel asked as he set Rouge down on her feet after they landed. From her mind, he read her thoughts. They are wild and rushed for some reason, and he wanted to know why.

She looked back at him and frowned. "He saw us."

"Who?"

"Knuckles." Rouge sighed as she moved her attention back to her boyfriend. Now, the red enchinda was walking towards them at a fast pace. By the way he looked, she could tell that if he'd reached them, the scene would not be pretty.

_I'm sorry... I didn't know he would get so angry about something as little as saving you._

Rouge shook her head and responded back to him. "It's alright. He just gets a little jealous that's all. I better go and stop him before he does something crazy."

"Azel! What did I tell you about going into people's minds!?" Starla scolded him as she walked over.

He groaned in complaint and rolled his eyes at his comrade. "It was just an accident"

"Yeah, but look how angry her boyfriend is now!" Starla said as she pointed over toward Rouge as she confronted Knuckles.

Azel looked in the direction and narrowed his eyes. Secretly, he was reading the thoughts of Knuckles and felt the anger and jealous thoughts that came from him. However, he saw him as no threat at all. At least for now.

"And? I only saved her. That's all."

"Yeah, after you got into her mind and got her messed up on the field." Starla quickly reminded him.

"And I saved her before she hit the floor AND I told her I was sorry, okay? He just walked in on the wrong time and assumed the worst. Not my fault on what he wants to think, is it?" Azel came right back at her with a smile on her face.

Starla shook her head and sighed. "When will you learn..?"

**Now,**

**Over with Rouge and Knuckles, she literally had to stop Knuckles from getting any closer to Azel to try or say whatever he had in mind. He tried his best to get around her, but Rouge wasn't having any of that...**

"Move, Rouge."

The white bat ignored his request and kept her ground. "Why? What are you going to do?"

"I just want to have a little talk with that Azel guy." Knuckles explained as he eyed the black bat a few paces behind her.

"For?" She asked again and folded her arms.

Knuckles took a deep breath. "To talk. That's it."

Rouge pouted and walked up closer to him to place a hand on his face. Using her charm, her eyes stared straight into his. "Now, Knuckie. You know as well as I know, that you wont be doing **just** talking."

"Rouge."

"Knuckie..." She came right back at him with a serious look on her face. Her hand moved from his face and to his shoulder. "Please don't. You don't even know what just happened to me."

"Huh? What happened to you? Are you alright?" He asked right away with concern. Thankfully, he was more worried about what had happened to her than about possibly beating up Azel.

She nodded her head and smiled a small grin. "Yeah, of course! I'm talking to you right now, aren't I? I just had a little accident on the field is all, and Azel caught me before I hit the ground. It's nothing too big to worry about.."

"Hit the ground?" He questioned as he had a surprised expression.

"Yeah, I accidentally ran into one of the smoke clouds and became paralyzed. My wings were of no use at all, and I nearly hit the ground before he swooped up to save me. You just happened to walk in on him setting me down."

As soon as the words left her mouth, Knuckles couldn't help but to feel a little guilty for his sudden actions. He began to stutter, because he didn't know what to say at this point. The reason begin is he'd taken the situation completely out of context. "Oh, well... I... I ummm..."

"It's okay, Knuckie!" Rouge smiled as she forgave him. "I know you were only worried about me. That's all."

"Yeah..." He said in a low, embarrassed voice as she teased him.

She went up to pinch his cheek causing him to step back. "Aw, you're so cute when you're jealous!"

"W-what? Who said I was jealous?"

"Well, you were about to go beat up the new guy just because he was holding me in his arms." Rouge said an almost casual voice as she puts her back to him.

Knuckles growled lowly and shook his head. "W-well, it's only because I thought.. I thought.."

"Thought what?" She asked curiously as she turned back to him. He's unable to finish his words until she placed her hand on his cheek. She moved herself back to him and forced him to finish his sentence.

"I thought that... that-"

Just before he could finish his sentence, their conversation is brought to an abrupt stop. "Excuse me for the interruption."

Rouge and Knuckles looked to see Azel and Starla as they stood behind them. Starla has Azel by the arm. Clearly, she'd dragged him all the way over for some reason or another.

"Sorry for this! But Azel has something to say." Starla said in an apologetic tone as she pushed him forward.

Glaring back at her, Azel signed. He walked in front of Knuckles and Rouge with a strong look on his face. Curious, Rouge was about to question his actions.

_Don't say anything..._

She heard his voice and quickly responds to him with her own thoughts.

_What are you doing?_

Azel doesn't respond right away. "Knuckles, I-"

_Hey, I asked what are you doing?_

_It better not be anything to make Knuckles mad, because I just-_

The black bat stopped in the middle of his sentence to catch a quick glance at her. The look on his face told her that she needed to keep quiet for the moment.

_Starla dragged us over here, so I can apologize to Knuckles._

_Don't worry..._

_About him hitting me or anything._

Mentally slapping herself, Rouge slightly nodded her head and watched as he continued his speech with Knuckles.

"Yes?" Knuckles asked Azel when he'd stop speaking to look toward Rouge.

Azel got back on point and turned to the red male. "I just wanted to apologize for what happened. I was just saving her from the fall on the field that I somehow cau-"

"No, no. There's no need to apologize. Rouge told me what happened. If anything, I should be the one apologizing." Knuckles said with a nervous laugh and a scratch to the back of his head.

"Oh, really? That's-"

"Very nice of her!" Starla butted in as she gave Rouge and Knuckles an apologetic smile. "But still. He's sorry for giving off the wrong first impression. Isn't that right, Azel?"

Azel, who shot her another glare out of the corner of his eye, sighed. "Yeah."

_Jackass..._

Rouge heard Azel curse through her mind which made her laugh.

"What's funny?"

"Oh, nothing.. It's just funny to see Knuckles actually apologizing to someone for once other than me."

Starla laughs along with her. "Haha, really? The same goes for Azel here! But all he needs is a good push!"

"Now that that's out of the way!" Azel said after he cleared his throat. He pointed back over to the training field where an agent has already started their turn. Up in the control room, Tails had seen that Rouge was alright, so it was so to continue with the other agents.

"We should be getting back over there."

"Oh, right! I almost forgot we have to have a go!" Starla remembered right away. "Well, see you later, Knuckles! And sorry again for the confusion!"

Rouge nodded and turned to Knuckles. "Yeah, and he's sorry too!"

Knuckles, who smiled a bit, then looked quickly to Azel who was already on his way back to the others near the field. Starla is right behind him too.

"Right..."

"I guess I gotta go back too.." His girlfriend said as she folded her arms and gave off a soft sigh. However, after a few seconds, she looked up to him with a smile on her face. "I'll see you, when we're both done with training, Knuckie!"

**Just before she can go off to where she was required to be, Knuckles grabbed her by the hand to stop her...**

"Wait!"

"Huh? What's the matter?"

He looked off to the side as soon as her eyes made contact with his. It seemed he was trying to find the correct words to say. "Listen, Rouge. I'm sorry for jumping to conclusions. I should have thought better of you.."

"But.."

Rouge's ears twitch to the sound of Knuckles' voice. "But what?"

"You usually complete the course with no trouble at all, so what happened this time?"

"Well..."

_Sheesh! _

_I can't really tell Knuckles Azel got into my head.. Telepathically..._

_That would make him even angrier at the guy!_

Knuckles raised an eyebrow and grabbed her by the shoulders to get her attention. "Rouge!"

"Whaat? Huh?" She asked nervously, but then remembered his question. "Oh, I guess I just wasn't paying that much attention that time!"

He nodded. "Yeah, you have been acting pretty strange this morning.."

"Strange?" Rouge caught the word as she held a sour frown toward him. "I'll show you strange-"

"Hehe, I'm just kidding, babe..." By the understanding look on his face, he believed her story. "Well, be careful next time. I don't want anything happening to you."

Rouge blushed a bit and smiled even brighter. Flying up in the air, she gave him a tender kiss on the lips before she flew off back toward the field.

"Yeah, I will! Thanks for caring so much about my health, Knuckies!"

_Whew!_

_That was a close one..._

**XoXooXOXooXoX**

**A while later,  
**

**All the hard training and the work day had come to an end. The agents would continue their training and other courses of physical fitness on Wednesday. ****Tuesday was a day off, so they were free the next day to do whatever they'd please.**

** Now, most of everyone were getting their things together and making plans for tomorrow. Rouge, who'd already gotten her things, was waiting by the elevator door. Amy had already left with Sonic a few minutes before, Julie-Su had just waved as she headed out of the door to go home herself, and many other fellow agents were way past gone.  
**

**This left Rouge to herself as she waited for a specific person to show up...**

"Where is Knuckles? I'm ready to go home and rest!" Rouge said as she leaned against the wall next to the elevator.

**Rouge - Where r U, Big Reddd?**

**Knuckles - Hold on , I'm jus gettin my bag out of my lockerr  
**

**Rouge - Well ... HURRRY! -.-'**

She tossed her hands up in the air and drew a hard breath. The girl was ready to get home, so she could rest her tired body while in the company of her protective boyfriend. Also, she would rather get the thoughts of Azel out of her mind.

After all, she already has a boyfriend. She couldn't be getting all nervous and distracted by the new guy at work.

_Could I?_

An unexpected ding from next to her startled her. Rouge rolled her eyes at her own scariness and shook her head.

"Sheesh.. finally!"

_Get it together girl!_

Expecting to see Knuckles on the elevator, Rouge stood in front of the twin doors with her arms crossed and ready to yell at him for his lateness.

"Knuckles, what took you so-"

_Azel..._

The black, red eyed bat stood on the elevator along with his five other comrades. Rouge smiled nervously and moved out of the way for them to get off.

"O-ooh, sorry, I thought you were someone else!"

"I can see that." Azel smirked at her while his friends only gave one another certain looks. "Hey, I'll catch up to you guys in a minute."

Buff, along with the other two males, noticed Rouge right away and smirk. "Hehe, alright. We'll be waiting outside for ya, man!"

Starla gave Azel a stern look. "Remember what I said, Azel! No making trouble."

Azel rolled his eyes, but nodded. "Yeah, yeah. I know.."

_I wasn't trying to last time..._

**As soon as his friends were gone out of the front door, Azel turned to look at Rouge who held a nervous look on her face. Her eyes kept looking at the elevator for any movement at all...**

"Waiting for Knuckles, I suppose?"

"Huh? Oh, yeah.. I just texted him." Rouge quickly told him.

Azel nodded his head and moved to stand next to her. The suddenness of his actions cause the poor girl to let out a high pitched squeak.

"Haha, claustrophobic or something?" He joked.

Rouge shook her head with a slightly angry look. "No! It's just that I'm worried about.. Knuckles seeing us together again."

"Us? Together?" Azel repeated. "But I'm not even holding up this time, so what's there to worry about?"

"You saw how Knuckles reacted earlier! I just don't want any conflict, alright?" She explained.

"And there will be none, so relax, will ya?" Rouge only sighed and set her eyes back on the elevator. "Look, I was thinking.. since we're going to be working together for a while.. do you want to go out tomorrow, since it's a day off?"

"Out? Go out with you?" Rouge, who blushed furiously, repeated him with a laugh and a smile on her face. "Are you serious?"

_I can just imagine what Knuckles would say..._

_And do!_

_If he finds out you asked me this-_

Azel, who realized what she meant by her mind's thoughts, shook his head as he stuffed his hands into his pockets. "As in 'go out for a walk or something' is what I really mean. To get to know each other, you know? Seeing as that you'll be my partner, we should at least get to know more about each other, right?

And maybe you can tell me things I shouldn't do whenever your boyfriend is around!"

_Funny..._

"Ha! I know I am." He said with a smile making her laugh at him. "So what do you say? Yes or no?"

"To get to know each other, huh?"

"Yeah, is that a problem?" He then asked with a sly smirk. Closely, his eyes watched her body language and the deciding look on her face.

"Mmm... you should know that that isn't a good idea right now."

"Why?"

Rouge stopped in her steps and gave him a blank stare. "Have you really already forgotten how he reacted? He was going to fight you! I was the one who had to calm him down."

"Yeah, I can see why any guy would get angry if some dude was carrying his beautiful girlfriend." Azel stopped to see the blush on Rouge's face before he continued. "Besides... it seems he already has plans with that fox girl tomorrow.."

She instantly froze to the mention of a fox female. The only female fox that she could think of was Haley.

"Haley..."

"Yeah, that's her name. I heard him and her talking just before me and my friends got on the elevator. I just happened to hear them making plans to train together tomorrow. To her strengthen her abilities. She sounded really sincere too."

"That. Little. Witch! She's always trying to get his attention!" Rouge said by mistake. "I-I mean.."

"I can see that you don't like to two of them together." Azel guessed correctly.

Rouge nodded as she placed a hand on her head. "I **hate** her.."

"Hehe, I think Knuckles hates me a little bit too, so-" Without her consent, Azel took Rouge by the hands and held them up to his chest. "So why don't we do the same?"

"T-the same?"

_Yes..._

His smooth, alluring voice echoed in Rouge's mind causing shivers to run down her body. All too suddenly, she felt her knees as they grew weak under his touch. She fought back her face from showing an obvious blush.

"Azel.. y-you know I can't... I... it's just that Knuckles would-"

"No, no... I see. I... understand." Azel said as he carefully let go of her hands. With a disappointed look on his face, he turned towards the front door leading out of the building.

"Your response is saddening... I really wanted to get to know more about you... but I guess you don't want to know about me.." Azel said as he started to walk off. "I guess I'll see you Wednesday then. Bye, Rouge."

_NO! _

_Wait..._

_I think I wanna change my mind-_

Her mind screams for Azel's attention, but it seems that her thoughts were not enough to get him to turn around. Only the sound of her voice would stop him. By the time she had the guts to go after him as his figured disappeared out of the door, the elevator caught her attention.

She looked to see someone coming down. "Mmm..."

_It's mostly likely Knuckles now..._

_He's probably going to tell me he's busy tomorrow once he gets here!_

_With Haley..._

_So then I can-_

With a mischievous look on her face, she turned toward the door and ran out. Outside, her eyes scanned the area to see in any direction to see where Azel had gone. But

"Hehe, that was quick, Rouge. What do you want?"

"Yeah, Azel.. I did... and about your offer.. I"

_Mmph!_

_If Knuckles can hang out with his coworker for a day,_

_Then so can I..._

* * *

**XoXooXOXooXoX**

**The following morning...**

**Tuesday,**

**Rouge found herself sitting on a park bench in the park downtown of Mobius City. The sun was shining brightly and the birds were chirping happily. The cool, yet warm weather was perfect for a day off from work.  
**

**Many people were walking through with their pets, little children, or boyfriends and girlfriends. While everyone else enjoyed their selves on this fine day, Rouge sat alone watching them all as they passed by. She was waiting on someone to show up...  
**

_Mmm... where is he?_

Rouge looked down at her cell phone to realize that she'd been waiting for fifteen minutes now. "Azel."

_Yesterday,_

_ Knuckles had told Rouge of his plans with Haley. Strangely, I reacted coolly with the idea for his sake. And sure enough, earlier this morning, Knuckles left to go off to train with Haley for a while. _

_Ugh! _

_I just wanted to strangled that girl when she showed up at my house in an almost revealing workout attire! Lucky for me that he decided to spend the night at my house or I wouldn't have had the chance to kiss him goodbye to let her know that he's mine!_

_But still... I can't help, but think..._

Just the thought of Haley spending the day with her boyfriend got Rouge all hot and flustered.

_Argh! _

_I swear, if she-_

"Have you been waiting long?" His voice snapped Rouge out of her thoughts. She looked to her side to see Azel right next to her. Surprisingly, he didn't make a sound to even make her realize that he was there in the first place.

"Oh, it's alright. It was only a few minutes." Rouge smiled up to him as he took a seat next to her. She then quickly took a moment to notice his attire. He was wearing a simple white American Eagle shirt, dark blue jeans, and white sneakers. Even with his simple choice of outfits, he still caught the eye of various females walking around them in the park.

"Mmm... that's good then." Azel said at first as he leaned back on the bench. "So I take it Knuckles really did leave with that Haley girl this morning?"

Rouge nodded and sighed miserably. "Yeah, that stupid fox is always trying to move in on Knuckles like this.."

"Hehe, I can tell, but.." His hand laid on her shoulder. "Let's enjoy this day shall we?"

"Huh?"

"Remember? I said we should get to know each other. I've learned enough about Knuckles to know what and what not to do around him."

The comment made Rouge laugh as she nodded her head. "Yeah, yeah, I remember! So... what should we talk about exactly."

_This is kinda awkward after all.._

"Haha, yeah. For you, because you hardly know me at all. All you know is that my name is Azel, I can speak into people's mind, hear their thoughts, and among other abilities. Oh, and that we'll be working together from now on."

"You got that right!" Rouge agreed. "Well, I can already guess that you don't know anything about me except my name and what I can do ability wise."

He nodded and took a look in her direction. His red eyes seemed to look into her very soul sending chills down her spine as they did before. "So tell me more about you."

"Ummm.. well, as you know Knuckles is my boyfriend."

"How could I not guess that?"

Rouge laughed nervously. "Yeah... why not just ask a question instead?"

"Sure, how old are you?"

"Aaah, a woman never tells anyone her age."

"Oh, how many times have I heard that line before?"

"Then you should know that I will never tell you." She told him with a teasing smile as she cross a leg over the other.

Azel sucked his teeth at her. "For a guess, I think you're at least 23 years old."

"How did you-"

"And I guess I'm right." Azel said confidently based on her reaction.

Rouge poked her lips out and shrugged. "Next question."

"How long have you been working for G.U.N?"

"Ehh, about 8 years now. I started working for them when I was 15. Apparently, my skills were top notch enough for them to notice and recruit me."

"Interesting. What are you able to do?"

"Able to do? My abilities? Well, I can fly, my agility is pretty good, I can hack into computers when needed be, I'm a good negotiator, and a master jewel thief. I also steal and require equipment, but only when the job calls for it."

Azel chuckled. "A jewel thief, huh? That sounds a bit familiar."

"Well, it should. My name was in the papers a lot... for good and bad reasons."

"How so?"

"When I was younger, I used to steal jewels a lot from high priced stores inside malls and stuff. I don't know why I did it. It just seemed easy and fun. I felt untouchable that I couldn't be caught. The newspaper gave me a name 'The Master Jewel Thief'.. However, one day, I got caught... I was arrested and thrown in jail with no chance of making bail, because they confiscated all I had from me.

But luckily, G.U.N. got me out and recruited me, because of the skills I displayed while I was the jewel thief that I was. Obviously, they'd rather have me working for them than rotting in some damn jail cell. So now, I put my skills to good use!"

Azel nodded in understanding. "So that's how you got into G.U.N. in the first place?"

"Yup." Rouge said as she looked at him. She tried her best not to appear or sound nervous as she opened her mouth again to speak. "Anything else?"

**For the next few minutes, he asked her a serious of questions, and she answered. Now, on the what seems like the thirtieth question, Rouge became a suspicious... **

"Hey, Azel... it feels like you're questioning me in an interrogation room, so why not tell me about yourself now?"

Azel heard her question, but doesn't respond. By the look on his face, she can tell that he was debating whether he should tell her about himself or not. She thought that he was thinking deeply about the question. And, for some reason, something told her that something was strange about his silence.

"Mmph! Enough with 20 questions.. Let's do something more fun."

Azel completely avoided the question and set upon a different activity. A red blushed as she quickly looked away from him. She was completely bewildered by his suggestion on 'fun' and had no idea what he meant by it.

"F-fun? What kinda fun are you talking about?"

Without any fair warning, Azel pushed Rouge from the bench and onto the grassy ground beneath them. She fell straight on green blades. Thankfully, she got no grass stains on her clothes. If she had, she would have been even more angry than she already was.

Rouge growled lowly and glared up at the smirk on his face. "Did you seriously just do that right now?"

"Of course! This is what I call fun, even if you don't think so!" Azel laughed as he stood to his feet. As a gentleman, he extended his hand for her to take.

Slowly, she took his hand, but not without squeezing it tightly. He slightly flinched from the pain and looked her in the eye. "I can take it that you're mad?"

"Oh, you think?"

Rouge asked sarcastically before pushing him over and running off in another direction away from him. She laughed on the way as she looked back to see Azel as he picked himself up and took off after her.

"Aha, that's what your ass gets!"

_Now, I gotta lose em!_

**Behind her, Azel ran at full force and was suddenly getting quite close to her; Too close in fact...**

_Aah! _

_Too close!_

_Too cloooose! _

_Ugh, I can't believe this is even happening..._

"Well, I think you have no choice but to believe it!" He yelled behind her. "And best believe I'm going to get you back for that!"

"Well, you believe that you'll never catch me in a million years!"

Suddenly, her wings began to flap back and forth. Her feet started to leave the ground as she took flight into the air. "Haha, try to catch me now!"

"So what? In case you forgot, I can fly too! And faster."

_That's what you think..._

Rouge gasped as his voice came into her mind as many times before. "Fat chance, eyes!"

He only shook his head as he continued after her.

_Hehe.._

_Let's see if you're as fast as you say you are._

For most of the day, the two play a game of cat and mouse in the park as time ticks by. As the two continue their Air fun, unbeknownst to them, they were being watched.

* * *

**End~  
**

**Now, you know how Rouge actually got in G.U.N. and a bunch of other things. Exciting isn't it? I tried to make this chapter as entertaining and serious as possible, so hopefully it went well. :)  
**

**If anything is confusing or if there are any mistakes, just let me know, and I'll correct them right away!  
**

**Next update will be soon (hopefully).**

**Anyway,**

**READ/REVIEW**

**Peace!~**


End file.
